Earplugs

So my new job requires me to wear ear plugs when I go out onto the floor. Usually I'll keep them around my neck when I am in the quiet areas and just roll them up and stick them in my ears when I head out. Then there is that moment where they fill out and block the sound. It's a slow quieting of the world. They don't block out everything but just enough to protect me from going deaf early.

But the quiet of the world out there is balanced by the loudness of my own head. I can hear my breath better, my humming echos through my skull, I am trapped in my head. It's kinda terrifying actually to be in one of the quieter places with my ear plugs in. I almost get claustrophobic because of the lack of sound and amplification of sound. It's disconcerting at the least. Horrifying at the worst.

I say horrifying because I should not be scared of my own mind, but being trapped in such close proximity with it. Says something about me, doesn't it?