After the holiday hubbub crescendos into another noisy New Year’s Eve, as the final echoes of last year’s last firework fade away with the old year, we’re left with a relative quiet. The hustle and bustle and prep of the last few months that most of us have gone through in one way or another has been loud for a lot of us. At least in my world, things seem to get louder during the holidays, more plans made with family, more parties to go to, more cookies to make, more gifts to give (though I’m always a big impromptu cookie-maker and gift-giver, regardless of the season), and it all seems to quietly come to a halt in the new year.

​

I think that in our pause we finally catch up with nature. It's been quiet for a while now, at least in my neck of the woods, the leaves are long off of everything deciduous, and the tree frogs & cicadas have gone quiet for the year. The animals battened down the hatches and hunkered down when it started to get cold in November. As we enter into the new year, I think it’s important to try to echo their experience.

​

A lot of folks will try to combat the quiet in some way; I think that’s, in part, why we see so many resolutions & routines start as the year begins. As the music editor of Carolina Muse, I fall guilty myself—every new year, I get excited about the prospect of a new year’s music and start obsessively listening for the best new listen to get ahead of the curve. But, this year I’m trying to take more time to sit in the quiet.

​

I think there’s something to that as an artist, particularly as a musician. I find myself constantly absorbing the work I want to create and not leaving my brain space to create on its own. I think following nature into the quiet is incredibly beneficial for us, both as artists & individuals. It’s good to have time to let our brains wander, I find myself catching many ideas wandering through my brain as I’m dozing off. I can only imagine that, if I spent more of my waking hours in quiet, if I would catch more ideas more often. 

​

Artist or not, it’s good to develop our relationship with quiet. I know a lot of people have gotten uncomfortable with it, having constantly been stimulated by some form of media for years at this point. But, I do think we can rekindle that relationship, and I think it’s worth rekindling. It's easiest if you can start in nature as long as you can muster, sit in quiet with no distractions, and try to do this at least once per day. Additionally, I’ve found working on something physical in the quiet can be helpful for the mind to open up space to reflect & ideate, like a puzzle inside or a walk if the weather merits it. 

​

Franz Kafka wrote, “It isn’t necessary that you leave your home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don’t even listen, just wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you.” Kafka didn’t have to deal with the distractions of a little magic rectangle in his pocket with the world's information on it, but he understood that the world would offer itself if he took the time to wait.

​

In the new year, take some time to be still & alone and see what the world brings your way.​​​