Loud neighbours/people talking near my window:

I don’t know what cursed series of acoustic properties exist uniquely for my room,  but it feels like any word said within 30 metres gets beamed directly to me. It varies from indistinguishable mumbles to so loud I have to turn up the volume on my TV, but in either case my heart rate jumps, my chest gets tight and I struggle to focus on anything but the voices. 

Housemate’s self-talk: 

She talks to herself all the time, mostly going over what she’s currently doing or what she’s about to do. This in itself is difficult (frequent, “are you talking to me or yourself right now” situations), but she also does this thing where she doesn’t call my attention (no, “hey tastycake, can you…”) and just speaks out into the open air and expects that I’ve heard and agreed. I think I grew up around people like this and my natural response is to hang onto every word, so I don’t miss anything and don’t get in trouble. In moments where I’m already occupied or heavily taxed by other thoughts, this behaviour sends me into meltdown. 


I’m posting because on my journey towards better self-regulation, these are two things I’ve decided I don’t want to engage with, but am generally unable to ignore. 

Any thoughts?