The power of music

The ultimate mood enhancer?

Off the nutrition topic, this one is about a mental tool I use. I’ve long found my choice of music could have a very real impact. Soothing jazz of an evening for example, or some blazing guitars to keep me alert while driving.

More recently though, I’ve been deep in my music history looking for what you might call “fight songs”. Spurred by something another patient said recently, I was prompted to share. The line was:

“Just because I carry it well, doesn’t mean it’s not heavy.”

More than a few kind people have let me know that I’ve handled a tough year admirably. On the one hand, I deeply appreciate that and it adds fuel to the fire that I keep burning for this fight. However, it also brought to mind an old Stiff Little Fingers track, Nobody’s Hero. I’m genuinely thankful a few folks find my efforts inspiring but the truth is, this was never I battle I wanted to fight, I seek no sainthood here. Indeed, I started writing this journal to help me process the trauma of diagnosis.

I built a Spotify playlist for when I’m out walking and it’s a mix of good old fashioned fight songs (Tubthumping for example) and some rock classics I always find uplifting. Some raw energy from bands like Republica or The Killers feature, but also at times I just want to get some visceral anger going, a good stomp on the beach to that stuff can be cathartic. With that, we’re at Stiff Little Fingers again, then fuelled by pain were Rage Against The Machine. A

little bit of House music always works for me too so there’s some KLF in the mix. The most recent selection comes from Barenaked Ladies, “Loving Life”. They were the last band I saw live before a self imposed lockdown for treatment, and as I heard them singing about loving live so much they wanted to live it twice, it just resonated. I wasn’t done and it helped my focus the fire, give me fuel to burn.

Now I have this playlist on hand whenever I find myself flagging. As I’ve said to friends a few times now, I’m only gonna get beat if I stop getting back up. This then, is a core part of my resilience toolkit and helps me when I need to get the hell up and punch back!