Election Day and Hearing Loss

If you are opening my Take Heart email on November 8, 2022, it’s midterm election day.

It feels like many of us are holding our breath in anticipation

Holding your breath is not good for your health. It’s not good for our families. It’s not good for our community.  It’s not good for our country. It’s not good for our world. And it has become such a small world. Holding our breath or breathing in a shallow kind of way puts the human brain into a fight or flight mode.

Thanks to modern-day technology…

We can have the Ukraine/Russia war happening in our living room. Shootings haunt us in our kitchen as we prepare a meal. Stories of hate, fear, greed, and corruption are leaking into our bedrooms. That’s why I have to turn off the news and only take it in small helpings.  For some of us, we crave as much information as possible, watching the news, and following social media for hours per day in hopes of not being blindsided.

No wonder we are living in a sea of heightened anxiety & uncertainty

I personally believe that human beings, our bodies, in particular, have not evolved quickly enough to be able to take in so much news. We are living in the INFORMATION era. It’s like our nervous systems are not wired for so much information. Stress, perceived or unperceived, starts taking its toll.

Now, add the stress of a hearing loss

A typical week may include any of the following scenarios:

• Your family continually tells you to “turn down the TV”. When you do, it’s difficult to follow the program, and you become frustrated. But if you leave it turned up, your family becomes annoyed with you. What was once a simple and relaxing activity is now complicated and stressful.
• You make foolish mistakes in conversation and the listeners think it’s funny. They laugh and so do you but deep inside you feel judged and self-conscious. It’s not funny.
• At social gatherings, you feel disconnected and have a hard time tracking the conversation. You vow not to attend the next social function because it’s not worth the effort.
• You take a message over the phone only to find it is incorrect. You wrote down the wrong number.
• You are accused of not paying attention when the truth is you have to pay very close attention to follow a conversation. It gets tiring after a while, so you just check out of the conversation. Anyone would do the same. 

How to manage stress

Experts say that one of the best ways to reduce your stress levels is to look at what you have control over. I like to call this “taking care of your own backyard”.

I can’t control the wars that are happening in the world.  But I can make sure that I don’t ‘declare war’ on the people I meet in life. Instead of flipping someone off who cuts me off in traffic, I try to remember to simply bless them.  Who knows what is happening in their life? I do this not for their sake but for my own peace and serenity.

The next time you misunderstand someone…

Or they have to repeat what they just said to you, please remember that no one is to blame. It’s not easy when you have hearing loss. But it is also not easy when you are communicating with someone who has a hearing loss.

Get the clarification you need and then, pick up the phone and call Avalon at (916) 235-9771 to get your hearing checked or your hearing aids cleaned and adjusted. Allow us to help you reduce the stress in your life. Or click on the button below!