Where Words Fail, Music Speaks

Fact: Music can help to ease pain.

Fact: Music helps to improve sleep quality.

Fact: Music helps to reduce stress.

Fact: Music can elevate mood and relieve symptoms of depression.

Fact: Music can improve cognitive functions.

Everyone is affected by music differently. Some people barely feel its effects while others drown in it but even when the effects of music seem minimal on the outside, it has been proven that music can do wonders for one’s mental and physical health. It motivates people after strokes and other physical accidents to continue on their road to recovery. Music can boost brain activity, especially in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. I find music to be incredibly powerful, especially when I am vulnerable. One song can alter my mood drastically. I like to view music as a therapist- whose free of charge and has multiple different personalities depending on the mood i’m in. They don’t always give me advice directly, sometimes I have to look past the words that I hear and think about the context, the deeper message but when I understand, it usually always moves and affects me. Some people might prefer a therapist who says nothing just listens. There’s lyricless music for that type of person. A message within the noise, no words, no distraction from the basics; within the simplicity there is serenity. And, hey, if you don’t like a song, you never have to listen to it again and you didn’t have to waste an hour of your life and a hundred dollars with some stranger.

There is a reason why there exists so many genres of music, millions of artists throughout the ages, devices made solely for the purpose of listening to music wherever and whenever, and venues that garner millions of dollars specifically so people of all colors, genders and sizes can come together and bond over sound. It’s because music has the immense power to provide a voice for the voiceless, clarity for the lost, distraction for the dismayed. Music is a powerful tool that is often overlooked in the healing process if one is not an “artist”. I mean, we use music to enhance workouts, we use music to keep us from falling asleep on long car rides, why not use music to help us get back up when we’re down? Who says we need to have an angelic voice or the ability to play an instrument to fully feel the wonders that music can have on a recovery process? I say, find the music that speaks to you, allow a song to bewilder and move you, allow yourself to feel like a song is an outburst of your own soul, and allow music to speak for you when you cannot.