I’m Going Deaf And It’s Okay

I’m not deaf — just ignoring you. — T-shirt

I’m losing my hearing, more in my left ear than in my right. I can’t say I’m surprised. I live in a very loud country. Mom blames all the music I blasted into my headphones when I was a kid, but that was nothing in comparison to real eardrum-pounders like car alarms, trolleys, vacuum cleaners and clothes dryers. I also can’t help but notice that everyone else in my family has hearing loss. I suppose I could blame my parents for my hearing loss, but that wouldn’t be too wise of me. I can live with hearing loss. I can’t live with my parents being furious with me because I blamed my hearing loss on their DNA combinations.

I wouldn’t mind so much but my favorite singer Peter Gabriel is putting out new music this summer (Big Blue Ball). He only puts out an album about once a decade. Just my luck, eh? New Peter Gabriel music and I can barely hear it.

Counting My Blessings Through Gritted Teeth

I actually hate the expression "count your blessings" just because I’ve heard it so much. And the really annoying thing about it is that it does help to calm you down when you’ve been given bad news. So, I’m looking all of the advantages of going completely stone deaf.

I’ll never have to hear the doctor tell me that I’m completely stone cold deaf — because I won’t be able to
My dog can snore all she wants and it won’t bother me
I’ll never have to listen to a telemarketer again

Do I really need to list any more? Suffice to say, there’s a lot of painful experiences I can get out of when I’m deaf. I’m sure it’ll more than make up for the lack of things I do like to listen to.

Preparing For The Inevitable

It’s actually less stressful for me to prepare for my eventual deafness now rather than try to ignore it or hope that one day I may be able to afford digital hearing aids. And believe me, I’ve did try to ignore it when I was first diagnosed with a hearing problem when I was 12. At least my deafness is gradual instead of all at once. Here’s what I’ve been doing for the last few years:

I’ve been listening to less music than usual, to get me used to not listening to any someday
I’ve been going through at least one hour of silence a day. It’s quite peaceful.
I’ve never bought a home theatre and never will.
I’m learning how to read lips. Oddly enough, one of my freelance writing jobs is transcribing videos on Expert Village, which is just writing down what I hear in the videos. So, I’m learning how to lip read while getting paid for it. Funny how these things work out!

Hope this helps.

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