Gone is the time when I plugged in earphones when I was going for a run. I will never use them again.

Despite the popular motivational advice, I started to see how earphones do me more harm than good.

What I feel wrong with ear phones

1. Ear phones disconnect me from real world sounds.

Using headphones promote a biased idea that there is nothing to hear in the surrounding world. But that is not true.

There are sounds everywhere. Usually, they are milder than the obtrusive music in ear phones. But they are the real sounds that work healing on humans when we pay attention. Wind, birds, insects, distant voices, distant dogs – you name it. Even the city sounds, there are plenty of them. Most of them are “man made”, but they are still the real life sounds.

Real world sounds entertain me. They are pleasant to my ear. If I need some entertainment while running or exercising, I listen to those real world sounds. And I don’t need any non-natural arrangements.

2. Ear phones switch off my imagination.

And even if they don’t switch it off completely, it interferes heavily. But I now drop the ear phones and, guess what, I feel entertained. Entertained much better than anything else in the whole World would entertain me.

Because there is a lot of exciting information stored in my brain. There are images, movie clips, music, poetry. There are sounds, smells, colors. There are memories, good and bad, about how I felt about something particular.

As I try to recall a certain verse, visualize a song, or simply think about my daily tasks and solutions, I realize all of a sudden that my 7 or 10 miles that I went out to run, are already behind my back!

So I reap the good fruit of the workout – the paradise feel that only a well worked body can enjoy.

And as a bonus, my brain is refreshed, too. Sometimes, I have solved a problem while running in the forest. Sometimes I get some exciting new ideas. Some other times I just feel rested having played with images, sounds, smells, colors – that all are stored in my memory.

That’s a wonderful thing to be able to use imagination, to visualize, to reflect. Whenever I remember to use them, no boredom has ever any space with me.

I am never bored. Even when I have to wait long, I am not bored. “It is always nice to talk to a wise person,” so they say. And that wise person is me.

I love to be in a good company. But I don’t necessarily need it. Because I can make myself the best company for myself.

3. Exposes me to danger

Apart of what was said above, ear-phones can make you deaf to the sounds from the surrounding world. And that can be plain dangerous.

Human ears also have the function of safety. When you hear an approaching car or train, you can be prepared. But if you don’t hear, that can often lead to trouble.

That is why I never ever plug anything into my ears when I go out.