This morning I caught the last part of a TV news item about annoying sounds. This prompted me to do a quick search on the internet. I came across a link describing 10 annoying sounds - the first three listed being a knife on a bottle, a fork on a glass, chalk on a blackboard (for the full list go to: 10 Most Annoying Sounds).
From a life coaching or cognitive behavioural perspective there are a couple of approaches you might have to dealing with annoying sounds. On a practical level, you might ask yourself if there is anything you can do to reduce the likelihood of the sound occurring or of you having to listen to it. However, if there is little you can do on this front then the next step is to help yourself to manage the situation better.
To do this first ask yourself: what thought do I have when I hear the annoying sound?
Let's suppose your thought is: 'I can't bear that' or 'That is awful'.
Next, challenge the extremity of your thought and tone it down into a more realistic, accurate observation: e.g. 'That's a highly unpleasant sound but it's not going to kill me' or 'That sound grates on my ears but it will pass.'
By moderating your thought in this way you are building your ability to tolerate frustrating situations. In the jargon of CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) Low Frustration Tolerance is a term used to describe a tendency to overreact to frustrating events or situations. The more you overreact, the angrier or more frustrated or stressed you will probably become. So if you can, try to balance out your frustrated thinking patterns in a tolerant,realistic, moderating way, to help you deal with those annoying sounds or other events.
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