Weaponize the Silence

My favorite weapon is silence. I can’t take credit for the idea but I have certainly perfected it.

My inspiration came from the children’s book, Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells. My grandmother and I checked it out from the library when I was very young and it quickly became my favorite book. Nora was a middle child who felt ignored so she began making noise to gain attention. When her efforts failed, she decided to hide in silence to teach her family a lesson.

As children, we have very little control over our circumstances but we can control ourselves to some extent. When other kids attempted to bully me, I would first punch them in the face and then I would pretend they didn’t exist. At home, I would just go to my room and ignore my parents. Whenever there was a conflict, I would get in a red-hot strike and follow it with ice-cold silence.

As an adult, I have learned that silence is much more effective. I refuse to fight. When I was married, I daydreamed about packing up my dogs and driving away without a word. The destination was unimportant. It was the silence that mattered.

People are always expecting me to say something. They attempt to provoke me and expect a reaction. Exes attempt to reconnect and expect me to respond. You’ll continue texting me until I block you? I accept your terms. You message me your phone number? I never lost it.

You may as well give up; I’ll never give you what you want.