I work in Noise

When people ask me my favorite sound in the world I always tell them it's the cacophony of a coffee shop. The exciting sound of milk being steamed, the happy grinding sound of coffee beans being ground, the slurp of strong coffee being poured into cups, and the gentle jingle of cinnamon being sprinkled on thick foam. All of these sounds make me feel happy and calm.

I frequently visit my local cafes so that I can enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells that coffee bars provide for me. I usually go to cafes alone because I prefer working at a café. It's true! My teachers always told me that I should do my work in a quiet place in order to focus better. However, I learned something about myself. I have discovered that I concentrate much better when I am in a bustling, loud public place. When I have a lot of work to do, the first place I think about going to work is a popular coffee shop that offers free Wi-Fi.

In the past, exams felt like torture. This strongly negative feeling was not due to my lack of knowledge in the subject, nor did it feel like torture because of the exam content. Instead, exams always felt tormenting because the room was so quiet. I hate working in quiet rooms. I despise the silence! Because the room was so quiet, I could hear every tiny sound that someone made. During the exams, I would get distracted by a person sharpening their pencil. I would listen to every cough, sniffle, and sneeze in the room. I knew I needed to focus so that I could do well on the exam, but all of those sounds made me preoccupied.

I may not be able to change the way my school delivers exams, but I can control where I do my homework and projects. I choose to do all of my work in a café because the high level of noise simply becomes white noise to me. I am able to ignore the noise and focus so much better than in a quiet room. However, sometimes there are people who distract me while I am working. My biggest distraction is teenagers talking loudly next to me. I can't help but listen. Owing to the fact that I have no control over which customers sit next to me at the café, I bring ear buds. This way, I know I have music to listen to in case an annoying group of people sits near me.

In addition to the cacophony of a café helping me drown out distractions, I also love to work in public. I feel like I have an audience to impress. Whether it is true or not, I feel like people are watching me. This feels like pressure. However, this pressure motivates me to work more diligently. I find that I work much harder, faster, and better when I feel like people are watching me. Maybe I want them to think I am a hard-working person. I find that, when the café is not very busy, I don't work as hard as I know I can. Just in case the café is not very busy, I keep my ear buds with me so that I can play television in the background. Having these background noises that I don't really care about is so comforting to me.