That Kinda Music Just Soothes the Soul

So sings Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band in the song 'Old Time Rock & Roll'.   It's true, there is nothing like some good music to soothe the soul.  During some of the most difficult days I've had, when facing tough situations I turn to music.  What kind of music that might be depends on the person, we all have our own taste in music.  What one person likes will drive another person crazy.  While we all have our own favourite music, there is still some music that work better for various moods we might be in or various activities we might be doing.  Lyrics also play into this.  I can't imagine working out to a slow lyrical song singing about the challenges of life; I want something that has a fast beat and uplifting lyrics to keep me going at a challenging pace.  The same goes for our mental health.

Some songs are better at helping us to reflect on our lives and to mourn the challenges we face.  (We mourn many changes in our lives.)  It's easy to put on some great music and just ignore or hide our struggles and maybe dance (while no one is watching) ourselves into a better mood, but sometimes it's good to use music to face the struggles we are dealing with and use it to work though the thoughts in our mind.  My personal preference is to create playlists for some of the different moods I might face.  I do find however that for me it is helpful to either have a few more uplifting songs in the playlist or after a while to switch to a more upbeat playlist to move myself into a different direction.  Maybe I'd start with a song like Bob Dylan's 'Blowing In The Wind' but before I move on for the day I might find it helpful to listen to something like 'Old Time Rock & Roll'.

I recall a year or two ago having a playlist of six songs that in different ways spoke to me about the challenges I was going through at the time.  The different songs all helped from different perspectives, from mourning to encouraging to lifting me up.  Whenever I was having a particularly hard moment I would turn to that playlist and play it over and over.  The songs helped to me to mentally work through the challenging time I was having.  This has helped me to use music to get me through difficult times and maybe it will help someone else.