Find a Muse to your Music

Everybody has music that makes them smile and everyone has their own taste. Some days I listen to the same five songs while some days (usually the worst ones) I forget to listen to any music whatsoever. It's important to remember how much music stimulates the mind, brightens the mood, and increases productiveness. It has been proven to ease anxiety and manage moods.

Music is the oldest art form humans anywhere have known. Throughout history, different cultures have had their own variations of music. Thanks to applications such as Spotify and Youtube, accessing music has become easier with passing time. There is a reason music is the oldest form of expression humans have ever had. There is a reason we still make and listen to music today. It affects us like nothing else we have ever created or experienced. So take advantage of that feeling and start your day off right with your favorite playlist. Sometimes moods pick the music but more often than not, even on bad days, music can change the mood. Don’t fight the feeling good music can give you, and if you are having a bad day, listen to some music that can either help you be happier or some music that can empathize with how you're feeling. There are plenty of songs out there about breakups or deaths of a loved one. Some songs are about falling in love, some are about overcoming something challenging. Whatever it is you are going through, someone else has gone through it too.

Music is the perfect place to feel connected to others and shows you that you aren’t alone. I believe starting the day with an excellent playlist of songs will make for an equally excellent day. Invest in your time and mind with music, and that investment will correlate to your life just as well. It has become a commonplace habit to leave the television on in the background. Instead of letting a TV show that has been seen hundreds of times play in the background, try playing a song that you've heard hundreds of times. Not only will you be able to better focus on what you are doing, but you will most likely be able to sing along, dance-along, nod your head or tap your foot.

I have a playlist for nearly all of my moods. There is one full of orchestral music that I like to write to and one to fall asleep to. I have a playlist full of songs from one of my favorite artists, Mac Miller and I have one specifically just for musicals. Some of mine are ideal for parties, some are just full of country music – I know it isn’t for everyone. At least three separate playlists are dedicated to bangers that put me in a good mood but all of them fit a different vibe. Once I made an entire playlist dedicated to songs that appeared in my favorite TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That same playlist ended up transforming into one dedicated to rainy days.

The possibilities for playlists are infinite. There are some specifically for holidays (Hello Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas is you”) My best friend once made a playlist just to get over a breakup. Many people have workout playlists or playlists dedicated to throwback songs that were once a favorite of theirs. My point is if anything can be made a little bit better with music, why isn’t it an instinct to constantly have music playing?

Some people think it is distracting but I disagree. I think saying music is distracting is directly contradicting the idea that external noises should be ignored. White noise exists everywhere. The many voices engaged in conversation in a restaurant from the muffled shuffling and whispers in a library are a chorus of noises we haven’t called music. Even outside birds are chirping and grasshoppers are grasshopping. Music can be distracting when it is the wrong kind of music for the occasion. A lot of writers don’t like to have words in the music they listen to while working and sometimes neither do I. Occasionally my ADHD is begging me to pay attention to something besides whatever I am working on, so the playlist I have that has a bunch of songs I love to sing along to works perfectly for those fleeting moments. Instead of taking a ‘break’ on my phone and then losing two hours to social media and games, I take five minutes max focusing on a great song. It’s the perfect short distraction to bring me right back to my work.

I posted one of my new and favorite playlists below, and if anyone has any playlists they think are just absolutely amazing, or songs they think would be a great addition to any type of playlist, I would love if you could comment below.