Heartbreak and heartache come to all of us, and each of us manages our pain in our own way. One of the ways that I process strong emotion is with music, and I think for many people, music is cathartic.
Music can help me cry. It can lift me up. Music can give voice to the overwhelming feelings for which I have no words.
My choice of soundtrack for a bad day will relate directly to what kind of bad day I am having, and whether or not I have to cry it out, or pull myself to a better place.
I love that music has the power to do that. I love that there is a force in the universe that provokes a visceral, unconscious response from me.
Music takes from me the ability to decide how I feel, and instead allows me to just purely feel. Neuroscience has documented that music triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. So in the midst of all that feeling, my brain is helping me find a better place.
My recommendation to all of you is that you create your very own, personal soundtrack for a bad day. It is so easy to create a playlist - you may even want to do several bad day playlists, depending on what you want to provoke from yourself.
Heartbreak and heartache will come. They are an inevitable part of life. You will have to find the strength to keep going when your heart just says "no more".
Think about the music that comforts you. The music that inspires you. The music that makes you cry.
Create playlists for the bad days on the good days, so that on the bad days you just have to pick and play.
Allow the music to give you the strength to take the steps you need to take to just keep on keeping on.
"I love that there is a force in the universe that provokes a visceral, unconscious response from me." -- for me, you totally nailed what music is for me in that one sentence. For me, music is not about one genre over another -- it is how it makes me feel without even trying. While I don't have playlists as you suggest (and its a great suggestion), I will continue to listen to a song even if the song is provoking a strong emotion (which lately is grief). While most anything from Sam Smith has the ability to stir thoughts of Jim and how our relationship was and that it is no more and start the tears, I can't change the station because I need to get it out. And the very next song could lift me right out of the sadness (like Bruno Mars with Uptown Funk) and that's okay because somewhere deep down I needed both. Thank you for this post :)
ReplyDelete