Silence…
Why is silence so hard? Why is it so difficult to just sit with it?
Personally, I grew up with music playing almost all the time. Both of my parents were musicians, and my dad was a radio DJ. If Dad was on the air, we listened to his show. Even at night—especially at bedtime—music filled the house. Mom often used the time right after I went to bed to practice the piano.
I found that music comforting. It reassured me that even though I was alone in my room, others were still in the house. I heard my mom playing, and often my dad would sing along. That constant background sound made me feel safe.
For me, silence forces me to think. The multi-stream cognition that runs wild in an ADHD brain can be exhausting and, at times, overwhelming. Sound—especially music—helps calm my brain, or at least slow it down enough to breathe.
As Twenty One Pilots point out in Car Radio, silence forces us to deal with the nagging thoughts we would rather avoid. Maybe it is guilt from the past or fear about the future. In silence, there is no escape. We are left to confront the hard and uncomfortable things we try so hard to drown out.
Silence, however, is not always the enemy.
Quiet moments can be restorative. Times of stillness allow us to recharge and reset. It is often in silence that we can seek God—not through noise or distraction, but through reflection and listening. These quiet spaces can heal both the soul and the mind.
Silence may be uncomfortable, but it can also be necessary. Sometimes the very thing we avoid is the thing we need most.
Car Radio by twenty-one pilots
TWENTY-ONE PILOTS LYRICS
“Car Radio”
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire
Exhale desire
I know it’s dire
My time todayI have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
‘Cause somebody stole
My car radio
And now I just sit in silenceSometimes quiet is violent
I find it hard to hide it
My pride is no longer inside
It’s on my sleeve
My skin will scream
Reminding me of
Who I killed inside my dream
I hate this car that I’m driving
There’s no hiding for me
I’m forced to deal with what I feel
There is no distraction to mask what is real
I could pull the steering wheelI have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
‘Cause somebody stole
My car radio
And now I just sit in silence
I ponder of something terrifying
‘Cause this time there’s no sound to hide behind
I find over the course of our human existence
One thing consists of consistence
And it’s that we’re all battling fear
Oh dear, I don’t know if we know why we’re here
Oh my,
Too deep
Please stop thinking
I liked it better when my car had sound
There are things we can do
But from the things that work there are only two
And from the two that we choose to do
Peace will win
And fear will lose
There’s faith and there’s sleep
We need to pick one please because
Faith is to be awake
And to be awake is for us to think
And for us to think is to be alive
And I will try with every rhyme
To come across like I am dying
To let you know you need to try to think
I have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
‘Cause somebody stole
My car radio
And now I just sit in silence
I ponder of something great
My lungs will fill and then deflate
They fill with fire
Exhale desire
I know it’s dire
My time today
I have these thoughts
So often I ought
To replace that slot
With what I once bought
‘Cause somebody stole
My car radio
And now I just sit in silence
The Dee Zone 