The State I Am In
Hello again, dear reader, and welcome to the month of April.
This week, I’d like to present a short post about the way that music affects my state of mind: probably this’ll be the last metaphysical post for a wee while.
It was a very good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) that threw into sharp relief the psychological effects of music listening. She has been known, on occasion, to work herself into a maelstrom of stress and panic about her work and the future direction of her career.
The first few (many) times this happened, I was at a loss for what to do to intervene. Being a rational, scientific sort, I was always keen to just explain the facts: you needn’t panic about getting this work done, you’ve never had difficulty achieving any of your goals, you’re immensely likeable and extraordinarily talented, etc. This never worked, not even once.
In the aftermath of a panic session, whilst significantly more lucid and rational, she explained the secret. Music
From that point onwards, my friend was always the recipient of tea and good, happy, chilled out music whenever the going got tough, and we were all the better for it.
I soon found that the same was true of me. Bad moods, bad days, panic attacks, fits of worry and stress were all best dealt with through the timely and sensible application of some good tunes, and this led to a visible change in my iTunes music library. All of my playlists are now named with a single word title, and that word is invariably a verb.
Finding the right blend of music is now often just a case of picking the word that best describes what I want to do for the next hour or so. I suppose if I had lived ten years earlier, these titles would have to have been written on the side af mix tapes, but the principle’d be the same.
Maybe you should try it yourself at home. Go on, pick some words, and then find the songs that make you do that thing most reliably. You’ll thank me for it one day, when you’re feeling glum and you put on the playlist called “grin” and chase those blues away.
Until the next time, stay safe.
This is from the