vanhalenkurtz wrote:
Autopilot is good to me. Make hammocks for a living. My mind hasn't been required for this activity for years. Music on, notepad at my side, prepping tonight's poem, all the while hammocks get made. Other people chitchatting sounds like so many crickets to me. No problem. Focus is a good fit for me.
The same thing happens with people talking to me when I focus on something - whether they are groups talking or individuals. I also can ignore the noises of a classroom of kids making noise, -repetitive- loud cries, etc. I sometimes can tune much of these things out. I think it's because hearing is my favorite and probably most highly developed sense. I'm a professional musician - I even teach bass and guitar lessons. I also have absolute pitch - the ability to know what a note or chord is without any external reference. I do get sensory overloads from hearing, but it just depends on the situation and the day. If music is involved (but only if I am playing and involved in being a major source of the loudness) I can tolerate very loud volumes (I still almost always wear earplugs).
I think my involvement in music probably gives me the ability to tune out auditory annoyances. Certain sounds will still drive me crazy though, like the sounds of people chewing or eating, sounds of breathing.
The hum of electric lights doesn't bother me simply because I always harmonize to it with humming. They can even stimulate musical ideas, lol.
I also like doing manual tasks, like assembling certain things over and over, sanding, stuffing hundreds of letters into envelopes, etc. and can tune out distractions/noise going on easily while focusing on them.