Why Music is Bad for me

Music, for the casual and constant listener alike, is an escape from reality that can make you feel happy, sad, angry, calm, or tense. Music helps us alter how we feel about the world for a brief couple of minutes.

My song right now is Heat Waves by Glass Animals. The song is about a year old and it has already gone through the really popular period, already hit its peak. I heard this song on the radio for the first time in the car with my family last night while we were at an outdoor light show. It's one of those songs that I know I will listen to in a few years from now and get emotional. I normally don't even listen to the radio, once this song started playing, my whole family knew it and enjoyed it. That's probably what drew me to this song. Amidst all the bickering and complaining this song provided a connection for all of us for a few quick minutes.

For some reason, this song made me feel nostalgic for the life I am currently living. The lyrics don't match my analogy but for some reason it makes me feel like there aren't going to be too many more moments with all of our family in the car together, that I need to cherish these moments more.

So I get introduced to this song yesterday and today I had the house to myself and not a lot going on so I played it constantly on repeat. Each time I played it it was like emotional void was patched up, but once it was over, the void seemed to still be there.

I have over 10 different playlists with different songs and probably upwards of 2,000 songs that I could recognize, music is such a significant part of my life but sometimes I feel like it does more harm then good. My mood is too often dependent upon what songs I am currently listening to. If I have a lot of songs that I enjoy I will most likely feel happier about how my life is going. But if I am sick of all of my new song, then I will feel not as good about how my life is going. Music is powerful, believe it.

I also have hypothesized that music has suppressed my own creativity. When I am writing or blogging it is often hard for me to do just that, I have become reliant on having music playing in my headphones. It is not easy being alone with your own thoughts, to me, it is an act of courage. The ability to be alone with your own thoughts is something that is very under appreciated and I think there are a lot of people out there that take that for granted.

So my advice for anyone who might be reading this, be comfortable with being alone with your thoughts. Learn to appreciate music by itself and try not to become too dependent on it.