I apologize for being absent for a few days. I was enjoying a little R&R. I attempted to post a blog, but the wi fi where we stayed was not cooperating. So I am posting the one I wrote the second day of our brief vacation.
Changes. We all experience them. Some we ask for—seek out—create. Others just happen with or without our permission. One thing we have little or no control over is how we age. We can eat our veggies, exercise, learn how to handle our stress, see our physician regularly and so forth. But what about the pace at which we lose our hearing and sight, for example.
Sure we hear about vitamins and other properties that are thought to help protect these senses, but there are also heredity/genes, environmental issues and so forth working either for or against us.
I have a family background of hearing loss. It seems to be the kind that occurs with age. For quite a long time, I have noticed a diminishing capacity to hear clearly in certain situations. A few weeks ago, I was called to do jury duty. I was surprised to find that I seemed to be the only one who was struggling to hear everything the judge said. I raised my hand to explain my problem and the bailiff gave me a crude hearing apparatus to use. It made such a difference, that I decided it was time to get a hearing test.
Why does an author need to have sharp hearing? Why does anyone need to know what’s going on and being said in family, social and business situations?
As authors seeking some measure of success, we must go out and meet our public. Many of us speak to groups of people and those people want to talk to us. They have questions. They have stories. Authors typically take classes, sit in on seminars and lectures and socialize with other authors and colleagues. It is important that we can hear clearly in these situations.
I had a hearing test recently and learned that my friends and family have not necessarily been speaking more softly than usual. I discovered that some of those speakers and the authors I meet at conferences and so forth, are, for the most part, not swallowing their words and mumbling. I have nerve damage and am experiencing a hearing loss.
Last week I was fitted with hearing aids. This week, I attended a social event and am blown away by the fact that I can now hear people in one-on-one conversations even in a noisy room. I can hear what people across the room are saying when they speak to the group even in their normal tone of voice. I am extremely pleased with my new hearing ability and eager to meet you at an upcoming conference or book festival and actually hear the brilliant things you have to say.
If any of you are struggling to see or to hear, whether the problem is aging related or not, take my advice and get an eye test and/or a hearing test and consider using aids. You might be surprised at how comfortably this can put you back in the social or business game.
Stop faking it, making do, getting by in life when you could possibly be having a much more vivid experience.