Q Is For Quiet #AToZChallenge

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment, doing nothing but sitting and looking out the window at children playing, the wind blowing in the trees, or watching the waves in the sea?

I love peace and quiet. I love the house when it is quiet, when I don't hear noises like keyboards tapping, music playing, people talking, water running, footsteps on the floor, washing machines going, etc. As you can imagine that is a very rare occasion. I might get that at 4 a.m. in the morning. But then I also love my sleep, so very limited indeed.

Quiet is a rare commodity anywhere in the civilized world. I specifically remember a post on a blog, where the writer traveled to the Middle East and from there took a two-day camel journey. He warned of the difficulties of camel riding, which is extremely hard and leaves you aching in remote places. But he also said that the nights were so silent, the stars were bright and that it was good for the soul. I can believe it!
The map above shows both the noisiest and quietest places in the United States.
 Some other quiet places in the world are the Hoh Valley in Washington State, Kronostky Nature Reserve in Russia, The Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, and the Sinharaja Forest Reserve in Sri Lanka.

The quietest place on earth is a lab in Minnesota where quiet is artificially induced. All sound is blocked out. People visiting the lab are actually better off sitting down because sounds made when moving are blocked out, thus making balance difficult. One can hear their own heartbeat, stomach gurgling, even the lungs make noises heard only in complete and utter quiet! The longest anyone has been able to stay in that anechoic chamber is 45 minutes! It goes to show that too much quiet is unnerving.

Some people get unnerved at any kind of quiet at all. And why would that be? I'm not sure, because I'm a lover of the quiet. Maybe it has to do with being an introvert vs. an extrovert. I imagine Lady Gaga to be an extrovert. She once said, "I was very depressed when I was 19...I would go back to my apartment every day and I would just sit there. It was quiet and it was lonely. It was still. It was just my piano and myself. I had a television and I would leave it on all the time just to feel like somebody was hanging out with me."

What do you think? Is quiet something you love? Or do you need some noise to help you feel comfortable?