"One good thing about music,
when it hits you, you feel no pain."
-- Bob Marley
"Music is supposed to be an escape.
It's supposed to be somewhere you go,
where you can be yourself,
or be whatever you want to be."
-- Joel Madden
"Music should be your escape."
-- Missy Elliot
When I'm struggling through something -- whether it's an emotional something, or a physical something, or just a general "life" something -- often the only way I can get away from that something, get it off my mind and take a break from it, is to drown it out with music.
I shove my ear buds into my auditory canals as far as they'll go, turn the iPod volume up way past the recommended "safe" limit (hearing damage be damned), climb on my bike and go.
I did it yesterday.
For 3 hours I pedaled and listened to everybody from Eminem to Amy Winehouse, from Peggy Lee to Quiet Riot, from Florence + The Machine to Deee-Lite as they helped me temporarily escape from my issues.
It's like a timeout for the little bastards.
If you happen to pass me out there on my bike, you might see me singing along.
Or not.
It depends.
Either way, when I got back home, I felt better.
My issues were still there, but they didn't seem as overwhelming.
The timeout gave me some space, some breathing room.
There's a reason psychologists use music as therapy. According to the American Music Therapy Association, music can help promote wellness by giving people a way to manage stress, alleviate pain, express feelings, remember things, communicate, and heal physically. And that's just the short list.
All I know is, music is a good place to hide when I need to escape from the barrage of thoughts and feelings rattling around inside my head, my heart and my body.
And you don't have to be struggling with something to go there.
Music doesn't discriminate. Music will take you in no matter what, whether you're troubled, or whether everything is perfectly fine and rosy.
Music.
It's an equal opportunity good thing.
