Music has, and will likely always be, one of my biggest coping mechanisms. Whether you’re feeling sad, mad, bored, stuck, excited, anxious, whatever, there’s probably a song you can to relate to.
Around the one year anniversary of the day my dad passed away, I was starting to feel a hurricane of emotions inside me. I have written and shared before about how I made a playlist to help me cope with his death, but it didn’t stop there.
Grieving and healing is a process that can go on for a very long time. We are fortunate in the fact that once music is released, we mostly get to have it forever. We are lucky that we have these songs to comfort us in our most difficult times, but in order for these songs to exist, someone had to write it and sing it. I’m not a songwriter, but from what I understand about writing and creative processes in general, usually, there’s some kind of truth behind the words that come out.
That likely means that someone else had to experience that pain first in order to be able to find the words that we relate to so well. Someone else had to be on the wrong side of that break up. Someone else had to be left after the death of a parent or friend. Someone else had to be on the receiving end of any other horrific tragedy. That person then took their own personal tragedy and turned it into art, and not just for them, they shared it with the rest of the world.
A lot of times, people have difficulty opening up about their emotions or talking about what’s going on in their lives, even to the people closest with them. These artists not only opened up with those around them to create this song, but they shared it with millions of strangers. The courage and strength that takes is undeniable.
For many of them, it may be therapeutic. By creating this music, they have some sort of release of emotions and many artists have even talked about the importance of sharing this story, because they know how important it is for others to hear these words. They know that someone is likely to relate to their story and it’s so important for people to know they aren’t alone.
So, on behalf of myself and every fan of music that has ever been comforted by a song, felt understood when listening to lyrics, or just felt a surge of memories from hearing someone else’s words, I want to say thank you to the creators. Thank you for your words. Thank you for your voice. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for sharing your heartache. Thank you for being open and vulnerable. Thank you for doing what you do even in the most difficult times. Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for helping us through our most difficult times.
Thank you for the music, I don’t know where I would be without it.
