My Oxygen

I believe in music. And dancing along to that music. And singing, loudly, even when my twin sister tells me not to. You can say things in music that you could never say anywhere else, things that would sound stupid and corny, reflections on the meaning of life, apologies, screams of resentment, mushy locutions about romance and love, or just spews of nonsense words for no other reason then to get them out.

For me, the only thing better than listening to music is composing it. Hardly any of my songs are what I would consider good, but whether my music appears in graceful arcs or harsh lines, the tunes invigorate me, making me feel powerful, drowsy or giddy, depending on the mood I was in when I wrote them. I love being able to flip back through my little purple notebook, feeling through the flavor of the words and chords what kind of spirit I was in that day, seeing the doodles in the margins when I had become distracted or lost in thought, acknowledging the lone little bits of inspiration that had suddenly come to me while walking my dog or writing an essay one day but had never really amounted to anything.

But whether my music eventually crescendos into actual publications in albums or just remains little bursts of thought in my notebook, it helps me sort out my thoughts and establish my perspectives. You know those stupid things that you sometimes do, which you could have avoided if you had only been thinking? Yeah, I get those a lot, and relive them, wincing, for weeks or months afterwards. But after I write a song about it, it usually quits nagging me on the premises that I’ve acknowledged my mistakes and expressed my view on the subject.

Music for me is beyond just enjoyment. It’s a way of life. Dance and song override my mind as soon as there is room for them, and it helps me gain a perspective about my happiness and events that happened in my past, as well as hypothetical ones that may happen in the future. It is necessary for my survival, it is my oxygen. It is phenomenal in itself that I have the chance to get out of bed every morning and just be, just live and breathe. That I have music just makes all that even more priceless, and I wouldn’t trade my music for anything in the world. Everyone enjoys it in some shape or form, and I believe that it makes their days more enjoyable in some way, even if it’s just for a little while. I believe in its power to change lives and move mountains, to touch hearts and souls. I believe that no one should be without it. And for that reason, I believe in music.