I don’t talk to myself much, but sometimes I know exactly what I want to hear. When I feel like all I need to do is listen, music takes me into a deep dive of my own thoughts. It feels good to have a conversation with someone as happy or sad as I am, no matter how one-sided it is. The music we choose is what we want to say without saying it out loud, and when we speak to ourselves in this way it’s often the unsaid things that are the loudest. There’s just something so perfect about finding the song that feels like it’s narrating your life. Not just the events occurring, but the emotions being experienced. Something I very recently realized is there is nothing wrong with someone being able to articulate your thoughts better than you do. In fact, it is quite beautiful to find an artist that speaks your mind in a way that you cannot. Why shouldn’t we use someone else’s poetry to express how we feel? I think we deserve to hear what we want to say when we aren’t able to.It’s how we comfort ourselves, knowing someone somewhere has felt the same feelings as myself. When I’m feeling down, it’s nice to know the music I’m listening to has been able to put into words exactly what I’m currently going through, that I’m not alone in these emotions. At the end of the day, that’s what music really does, it allows us to feel like we do not exist in a vacuum. It gives us something to express our uniqueness and reminds us that we are more than the obstacles we go through. Through this, it also connects us to others by way of shared thoughts and emotions. I once had a friend check up on me because they saw on Spotify that I had been bouncing between “Freudian” by Daniel Caesar and “22 A Million” by Bon Iver all day long - I believe his exact words were “you good?”. I’ve always wondered what part of me is drawn to the music that I choose. Is it because when I’m sad I don’t want to be happy and vice versa? Maybe it’s because I want the world to know where my mind is at. In the end, I don’t know if my music makes my mind or my mind makes my music, but I do know it’s the meaning we give these lyrics that connect the two.So I ask you, how is your music today?

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