I listened to so many podcasts so frequently throughout the week that I always had headphones on throughout the day while I was travelling. This has become so much the norm that I scarcely ever had them off my head while I was on my own. While I have listened to music in some instances this month, I still listen much less frequently, as I get bored much more easily with music and my mind starts to wander. So the headphones are off more than on these days.
As a result, I have come to notice and appreciate the ambient sounds and noise of a city that hit your ears as you make your way around.* Snippets of conversations, the sound of footsteps, the rattle of a dog collar: all are pleasant to my ears. Perhaps it is still a novelty for me, and I will soon tire of it. But I think it has as much to do with simply letting your ears be passive recipients to the world around you, instead of actively noticing the angry honking or cars and so forth as I used to do. Headphones were used to block out the bad, but they blocked out the good as well.
*It's worth noting the apparent contradiction to my previous post a couple of days ago, decrying the background white noise at home. This is different from the natural and organic noise caused by a city and its thousands of citizens in the act of living. That is an artificial blockage that one creates themselves. The former is engaging the world around you, albeit in a passive way.
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