I have a confession, once upon a time young college age Jannifer loved punk music. Shocking, I know. (Not the screaming type punk, mind you, more like pop punk.) I don't appear to be the type to like pounding drums and just plain loud. Most people tell me that I seem like a girl who would like country. While I like a good country tune here and there, let's get one thing straight, I'm not a country girl. (No offense to my wonderful friends who are country girls. Like what you like, be who you are. I just like to clarify any misconceptions on how I may be perceived.)
When I got home from work today, my stomach was in complete knots. Between the news of the Boston bombings, playing catch up at work and other difficulties, I had hit my quota of overwhelmed. I tried to shake the anxiety by cleaning and organizing. (I finally went through our pile of mail; there was stuff in there since February, oops.) I still couldn't get rid of the sinking pit in my stomach. I flipped on my laptop, planning on listening to something super chill and relaxing to help calm me down. Instead, the first song that my iTunes found was a loud, punkish, drumming song I haven't listened to in years. I almost changed it, but the nostalgic side of me clung on. Then the strangest thing happened, the knot in my stomach finally started to unravel. This evening has been filled with tunes from The Ataris, Acceptance, Something Corporate and the likes. Some of the music I had honestly forgotten I owned among my now "maturing" tastes. Sometimes when when the world is loud and confusing, you just have to turn the music up louder and keep going.
PS Prayers for Boston. Also, after I turned off my loud music last night, I was glancing over the notes I took during conference. READ Elder Cook's talk about peace, it is amazing and a message the world needs to hear.
PPS I have a lot more posts up ahead, there's so much to cover: conference quotable quotes, my birthday bash, road trip with the husband which was an extension of the birthday bash, and I just finished the most amazing book. Stay Tuned...
I would have never expected punk music to calm your anxiety but that's pretty cool it did! :) I can't wait to read your upcoming posts...
ReplyDeleteHa, I try to be full of surprises. :)
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I prefer a hymn to calm me down, or Mozart, but to each his own. I think the nostalgia works because we often wish for things the way they were when we weren't so aware of the world's harshness.
ReplyDeleteHa, I actually think it was the nostalgia aspect that had such a profound effect. The music took me back to less complicated times. Or complications I have forgotten, because I was single back then and dating was stressful.
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