Day of Silence

This weekend I went away to a friend's house out of town. While there I slept on her couch for three nights, one of which I may have had mild food poisoning. Suffice it to say, my meditation did not go well while I was there. so, when I got home last night still feeling ill and very tired, I decided I was going to spend today in silence. I've been trying to do this for several years and each time I try, I end up failing at some point or just getting too frustrated to continue. It's extremely difficult and I encourage you to give it a try sometime if you can.
The rules of this little exercise are simple, try to go a set length of time without talking. While doing so, pay attention to your thoughts, feelings and surroundings. I gave myself 20 hours as my goal, and I decided to begin last night at 9:30, the time I went to sleep, figuring this would give me the added boost to my confidence if I already had about half of my set time behind me. I'm going to discuss my surroundings first, as they caused most of the distraction today.
I've discovered that it is almost impossible to have a day of silence if you live with other people and animals. Myself, I have a husband, four cats and two dogs. Between the barking, meowing, talking on the phone, and trying to guess what I'm trying to communicate in what I'm convinced is more fun for my husband than me, there is also the sound of my excruciatingly loud clock, my sewing machine, my typing, his typing and other general noises around the house. It's actually quite interesting to notice these things, as they were never really a bother before. It took about an hour or so to calm the sheer annoyance in my head caused by all these noises. This allowed me to concentrate more on my thoughts, however, I was often inturrupted by the sounds throughout the day making it difficult to concentrate at times.
I tried meditating before my husband woke up this morning, as I figured this was going to be the quietest part of my day. I found it was much easier to focus on my breathing, but slightly more difficult to go to my happy place. The sound of the clock kept drawing me away. Giving up on that after about forty minutes, I decided to let my thoughts roam and just see what happened. I observed a few things. Firstly, that I was calmer if I was unable to vocalize my frustration. While sewing, I often grrrr or swear when I make inevitable mistakes. Today, I was content to just fix what had happened and move on. It was actually very relaxing and I didn't get nearly as frustrated with my chosen task. Second, I was more likely to think about what I was doing and focus and enjoy each activity. Eating was more reverent, reading was more encompassing, sewing was accomplished more quickly and with less stress.
Overall, I found myself more relaxed and at ease. That is until the last few hours of my challenge. I became bored with not making sound and since I was trying not to add too much noise myself to my environment, I didn't want to watch a movie or listen to music. I found myself thinking about having sex and not being allowed to make noise. The thought was exciting and arousing. But, being that this was an exercise in self discipline, I refrained (maybe next time ;)) It also became harder to stay silent. I found it especially difficult not to talk to the animals. I actually failed once today when I caught my cat licking a block of cheese I had out for a snack. I yelled, "Hey!" but went back to being silent admonishing myself for it only a little bit.
In the end, I found it to be a very positive experience, giving me a lot of insights into my own reactions to everyday occurrences. I will most likely try this again, but focus more on keeping my environment silent as well and then maybe another time on trying a busier day in public while remaining silent myself.