when silence starts to feel louder than noise

I never understood how loud silence could be—until I started eating dinner alone. Not once or twice, but for months. At first it felt like freedom. No small talk. No social pressure. Just me and my thoughts. I even lit a candle once, trying to make it poetic. But somewhere around week six, I noticed I had started talking to the TV—not because it was interesting, but because I missed the sound of being heard. I read a line from Joan Didion that said, “We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” It hit me. I had stopped telling stories. There was no audience. No need to perform. But also, no reflection. Loneliness doesn’t always feel like crying on the floor. Sometimes it looks like doing your dishes in silence for the fourth night in a row. #Entertainment #Books #LonelyReads