Music: Healing the Heart and Easing the Mind

By now, you know that music and I have a pretty special relationship. I wouldn’t have written a 27 part blog series if we didn’t! Though I haven’t participated in the making or replication of music since the late 1990s, music and I have formed a bond that has only been strengthened over the course of time. From Relient K and Hawk Nelson in high school to Yellowcard and Day at the Fair in college to The Graduate and Fireworks as an adult, music has gotten me through some difficult times. My life has been for the most part both productive and successful, but it has been far from smooth sailing, and there have been a lot of hurts. It is inevitable that there are going to be moments where you feel alone. I certainly have. It has been during those times that music truly exhibited healing powers in my life.

When you’re going through tough times, it’s really important to realize that there is someone out there who gets it. Maybe their situation isn’t exactly the same, but you can tell that they comprehend the basic principles of what is going on. It is for that reason that some of my greatest bonds to bands and albums were forged during some of the most difficult times of my life. The role The Graduate’s Only Every Time played in dragging me out of a funk and turning my life around in 2010 has been well-documented. But that’s not the only album that has done that for me. Different albums and songs have hit me right in the heart at the very moment I needed to hear them.

It is no secret by now that my trip earlier this month did not go as I had planned or hoped. I probably can’t adequately express how much that tore me up. As a result of what I was feeling, I decided that my next course of action was to disconnect from everyone and everything. I didn’t know if that was going to be the best thing for me in order to recover, but it was the path I was intending to travel. I even had a lengthy blog post prepared that was going to explain my decision and subsequent isolation. However, something stopped me.

If you’ve ever been driven in a car by me, you know that I still have an affinity for making “Mix CDs”. Every few months I gather 18-22 of my favorite tracks at the moment and put them into one of two series: “Stand Up and Rock” for the faster and heavier stuff and “The Pursuit of Peace” for the slower and mellower tracks. On my way home, I had “Stand Up and Rock XIII” playing. Even though I had compiled this album before my trip and thus lacked the knowledge of how things were going to turn sour, I was amazed at the relevance many of the tracks had to my life and my current situation. One track in particular, “Remember Me” from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (yes, they still make music) hit me and totally changed my thoughts on the situation.

Remember you still have friends
And we will be with you until the end
Everybody gets their heart broken
Get off your knees and start again

Right then I realized that there were a lot of people, both near and far, who were there for me, people who showed a legitimate concern and compassion for my situation and the hurt I was feeling. To disconnect from them would have been selfish and counterproductive.

Tomorrow I am crossing off an item on my bucket list. For the first time in my life, I have the privilege of attending Warped Tour. A dozen of my favorite bands will be performing. Some, such as Yellowcard and Anberlin, have played an important role in my development over the last decade. I don’t know if I’ll get a chance to meet any of these bands, but if I do, I’m going to thank them for how they’ve helped me heal over the years. I’m still not whole, but I’m sure there’s a song for me out there to fix that!