The Positivity Playlist
In an effort to get more out of my life, I've changed some of what I'm putting into my brain and my spirit. This means dumping most of my music in favor of more upbeat fare, which the would be elitist teen in me abhors, but I have seen the difference from the use of my Positivity Playlist. While I still have a heart for "Good Music," I fill my daily playlist with upbeat tunes full of Go Get 'Em anthems. Because I'm not afraid to admit that I need the reminder, a lot.
The day-to-day, soul-crushing reality of being a car-less, stay-at-home mom without many friends with kids in my child's age range is a bit much for someone who thought she'd be a Super Spy. My one hour of cleaning time is achieved through loud music and dance breaks with my toddler, who is always so eager to help that it takes much longer than I'd like to get through my One Big Chore rule. If I listened to strictly the "good" music, I'd be lost in ennui and nothing would get done. I need "Survivor" by Destiny's Child, or "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles, to keep my energy up and my stray thoughts charged with positive emotion.
Despite being quite the talker, Nora has yet to achieve the status of sparkling conversationalist, so I need to pretend that I'm with adults, even if it's just for the three or so minutes a song is playing. I'm coping, for whatever that's worth, and that's pretty good.
My playlist is being built slowly, since I've never approached music this way before, preferring to pick music that spoke to me instead of pop tunes that, for lack of better word, re-program my thinking patterns into something else. In the past I cleaned to dance music, but I've been paying more attention to lyrics and find that a lot of messages are negative for me and I'm taking them out of rotation. I don't want to continue to brainwash myself into thinking that I deserve less because I'm not some social ideal that's impossible and insulting. But the want is still there because life is a constant barrage of images and messages that tell me that I'm failing. Failing as a wife, or a mother, or a woman because I choose to be a wife and mother.
There is no longer a safe place, so I'm taking a more active role in what feeds my spirit.
Do you have songs that lift you up? Do you have a playlist built on positive emotions and imagery and I'm just late to the game? Too often I find that I'm a middle aged woman doing the emotional work of someone in their early twenties. If you're skipping the work because it's inconvenient, or too hard, or not really damaging your life, I'm telling you to buckle down. Don't be me, some washed up housewife trying to refashion herself into a more self-reliant person in the middle of a sea of obligation. You'll need more than a playlist to fix that mess. Trust me.
The day-to-day, soul-crushing reality of being a car-less, stay-at-home mom without many friends with kids in my child's age range is a bit much for someone who thought she'd be a Super Spy. My one hour of cleaning time is achieved through loud music and dance breaks with my toddler, who is always so eager to help that it takes much longer than I'd like to get through my One Big Chore rule. If I listened to strictly the "good" music, I'd be lost in ennui and nothing would get done. I need "Survivor" by Destiny's Child, or "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles, to keep my energy up and my stray thoughts charged with positive emotion.
Despite being quite the talker, Nora has yet to achieve the status of sparkling conversationalist, so I need to pretend that I'm with adults, even if it's just for the three or so minutes a song is playing. I'm coping, for whatever that's worth, and that's pretty good.
My playlist is being built slowly, since I've never approached music this way before, preferring to pick music that spoke to me instead of pop tunes that, for lack of better word, re-program my thinking patterns into something else. In the past I cleaned to dance music, but I've been paying more attention to lyrics and find that a lot of messages are negative for me and I'm taking them out of rotation. I don't want to continue to brainwash myself into thinking that I deserve less because I'm not some social ideal that's impossible and insulting. But the want is still there because life is a constant barrage of images and messages that tell me that I'm failing. Failing as a wife, or a mother, or a woman because I choose to be a wife and mother.
There is no longer a safe place, so I'm taking a more active role in what feeds my spirit.
Do you have songs that lift you up? Do you have a playlist built on positive emotions and imagery and I'm just late to the game? Too often I find that I'm a middle aged woman doing the emotional work of someone in their early twenties. If you're skipping the work because it's inconvenient, or too hard, or not really damaging your life, I'm telling you to buckle down. Don't be me, some washed up housewife trying to refashion herself into a more self-reliant person in the middle of a sea of obligation. You'll need more than a playlist to fix that mess. Trust me.
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