The beloved pieces of white plastic we cherish more than life itself as college students have come to be something I realized I could live without, completely on accident. I managed to break my last pair of earbuds while visiting family over winter break. Without much need for a pair of headphones in my hometown, or even in my apartment when I first came back, I wrote it off and moved on without it affecting me much.
Then came the treacherous day that I was forced to walk most of campus and sit through breaks in between classes without headphones. The first week actually wasn't awful. I was too busy sprinting from place to place trying to get my life together (Will that ever happen? Stay tuned). Two weeks went by and I forgot my headphones every single day. Talk about bad luck. That inevitably lead me to start my semester without headphones, and let me tell you, one out of one would recommend.
Our campus is beautiful regardless of the time of year, so I spent a lot more time appreciating the views and the people. Normally I could walk across campus and not know who or what I encountered because I was so stuck in my music or focused on my phone. Not constantly listening to music has taken my attention away from my phone and there is a good chance that I won't even look at it during my daily walks. There is a lot of freedom and mindfulness that comes with taking out the headphones and enjoying your surroundings.
Aside from spending 12 hours traveling this weekend, I've only used my headphones once and it was on campus. The day I actually remember them, I figured I would try it out even though it had been weeks since I touched them. I got grumpy and annoyed by the music and only listened to one song 90% of the day.
I thought about not using headphones while traveling this weekend. I actually almost left them in my car at the airport because I'm not used to grabbing them anymore. I decided it was probably a bad idea because I had a two long flights, an awful layover, and some unexpected delays, plus I'm not the biggest fan of flying. I used them to play white noise to help me fall asleep during my delays and I had them in the whole time I was flying, but most the time I had the volume low or the music off so I could observe like I had been doing everywhere else in my life.
I learned quite a lot about the two guys who were sitting in front of me without even introducing myself. On the off chance they read this, I hope you guys had a killer time at your bachelor party in Vegas and did great at the casino. Also, it's good to know that that a Coke and rum will never go out of style. I do want to clarify that I didn't cut music out of my life completely. I'm a dancer and a dance minor at MSU, so I spend a lot of time listening to different music trying to find the next perfect song to do choreography to. I did find a new appreciation for music that I didn't know I had when I started this accidental experiment. The opportunity to only hear music when it's played or put together in a playlist by someone else allowed me to listen to the song for what it was rather than what it sounded like instead of just playing my iTunes library again and again. I used 8tracks.
Except for the first few day where I actually felt the need for my headphones on campus, I became immune to the idea of even listening to music while walking places. There were people everywhere with those little white strings falling from their ears, but I had no interest in putting mine in anymore. For anyone who is stressed out or in need of something different, I challenge you to test this out yourself and let me know how it goes. I will be continuing this experiment and see where it takes me for the rest of the semester. Wish me luck.
