Music and Mood

It's a well known fact that music can impact our mood. Some songs make us want to cry and others make us want to dance.

When dealing with depression, it's important to surround ourselves with positive things. However, if we like darker, melancholy music, that can perpetuate the feelings we're having. Or, if there are songs that you used to turn to when you were down, listening to those songs can bring you back into the mood you were originally in when you resonated with that song.



For example, I love Evanescence. They're described as a goth rock/metal band. The lead singer's voice is soft, haunting and, if I could see the music, I would say that her voice and lyrics are like a ray of light piercing through prickly darkness. I would put certain songs on repeat, listening to them so many times that there was probably a permanently etched ring in the CD. Other singers/bands like Sarah McLachlan, Linkin Park, and more, drew me to them because it felt like they knew what I was feeling.

Lyrics like the following would reach down into my soul and pull out the pain that I was feeling, and I would sing along at the top of my lungs to try and expel them from my body:

• "Bring me back to life," - Evanescence
• "I'm dying again, I'm going under...I'm falling forever," - Evanescence
• "These wounds won't seem to heal, this pain is just too real, there's just too much that time cannot erase," - Evanescence
• "Wake me up inside, call my name and save me from the dark," - Linkin Park
• "Crawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal," - Linkin Park
• "I'm a train wreck waiting to happen, waiting for someone to pick me up off the tracks" - Sarah McLachlan

It was cathartic to listen and connect to these songs, but they only served to perpetuate the feelings. If I was in a decent mood and one of the songs came on, it would just bring me back to that dark place.

Some part of me knew that I needed a change. While changing radio stations I'd hear the upbeat pop tunes and thought they were so fake. However, they had catchy lyrics and tunes. So, over time, I started listening to more and more Top 40s and less of the dark rock that had been my staple for so long. Now, the lyrics that get stuck in my head are much more positive and the music makes me want to get up and do things instead of lying in bed and letting my emotions circle the drain.

Some of my favorite lines from recent and current hits are:

• "You are beautiful, in every single way," - Christina Aguilera
• "Baby, you're a firework, go on let your colors burst" - Katy Perry
• "I'm beautiful in my way...I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way" - Lady Gaga
• "With you right here, I'm a rocketeer, let's fly" - Far East Movement
• "When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change, 'cause you're amazing, just the way you are" - Bruno Mars
• "Gotta live like we're dying" - Kris Allen

I gotta say - I'm a lot happier when I listen to my music these days!