Another week, another rant.
I don't want to write about bad moods again since I already have a post on that (I'll link that here) but I feel like every time I get in a bad mood I just want to write. It's almost like an instinct to sit at my computer and type my feelings- even though no one reads this, it's therapeutic in a way.
The best part of being my own boss and writing what I want to write is I can change what each post is about while writing it. I opened my laptop ready to write about being sad, and as I did I started to play what I call my 'happy' playlist, and already listening to the first song I'm already in a better mood.
Music is a really powerful thing. It can change your mood with one lyric, one strum of a guitar, one measure of a beat. I don't go a day without listening to music- it's a part of my daily routine. There are a few playlists that I always have on repeat: workout, (pop/dance/rap songs) happy, (Lumineers-sounding songs) twenty one pilots, Taylor Swift, Melanie Martinez, and Little Mix. The 'happy' playlist is what I just started listening to as I began writing this post, and it instantly changed my mood with the first song it played: Hold Back the River by James Bay. The guitar and Bay's calming voice put me at ease, in a sense. The drums that enter after about 30 seconds pick up the beat and I can honestly say I forgot about what I was stressing about, even if for only a second. And the chorus. Man, I love this song.
I think for a long time I've underestimated how music can change you, whether it be for those three minutes or for the rest of your life. For me, sometimes it's the lyrics that moves me, but other times it's just the mere sound of the song that shifts my mood. Music is supposed to move you. It's supposed to make you feel- happiness, excitement, sadness, regret, strength, love... all the feels (haha where's my laughing crying emoji when I need it). I encourage every single person who is reading this to make a playlist on iTunes/Spotify/Pandora of songs that make you feel good (like I said before, it doesn't have to be a positive message- it can just make you feel good when you hear it). I think we all underestimate how music can make us feel better. If we all have a few songs that brighten our mood, then we should have them at the ready at all times.
Here's my 'happy' playlist, if you'd like some inspiration.
1. Hold Back the River- James Bay
2. Stubborn Love- The Lumineers
3. The Funeral- Band of Horses
4. Sleep on the Floor- The Lumineers
5. Work Song- Hozier
6. Middle Distance Runner- Sea Wolf
7. Ophelia- The Lumineers
8. Down in the Valley- The Head and the Heart
9. Six Weeks- Of Monsters and Men
10. Kids- MGMT
11. Home- Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Ending this post, I'm in a way better mood than I was when I started it. You could say I'm even happy ;) (get it? The playlist is called 'happy'...get it? hahahaaha haahha ok I'm done).
Don't forget the power of music.
- Evangeline
