Last day of the course, I go home tomorrow.
Noble silence is finished at 9 am and we can start talking again.
I’m not relishing all the noise as I’ve been in silence for 9 days. Somehow I manage to avoid talking till lunch. At this point, my experience goes off the rails again. I arrive late to the dining hall and when I open the door am buffetted with noise, I’m reeling, SO MUCH NOISE!!! I stand in line for my lunch, people are talking to me and I alternate between being sick to my stomach and feeling like I’m going to cry. How are they talking so much? When I get my dinner I sit down away from everyone to try and get my equilibrium back. Unfortunately, it’s not working so outside I go to be in silence. I sit down with a group of people and things start to slowly come back into balance.
I explain the above to them and that I practiced the techniques we learned to calm myself down.
One of them exclaims “It’s great that you have had this experience. It has given you the opportunity to use the tools we were given”
Hmmm…not sure I would have said that when I was going to cry and throw up at the same time.
Rest of the day is LOUD but uneventful. 🙂