I don’t know about you, but I go into complete zen the moment I enter my 2012 Chevy cruise, plug the aux cord into my phone and hit shuffle on my playlist. Well, depending on how I am feeling that day, it might just be the last six or seven songs on repeat.
With my overbearing schedule of being a student-athlete, I sometimes feel like the only time I have to just be free is sitting behind the steering wheel, and ironically enough, not even steering. Better yet, I might not even be moving from the parking space that most likely took (not even exaggerating) at least five minutes to find.
And I just breathe, sing and be.
It’s funny though. I have been told multiple times that “my” music taste is the complete definition of “vibey” or “chill,” and even “totally something a California girl would listen to,” which makes me chuckle a little because I have no idea what that actually means. I guess being from good ol’ sunny California automatically categorizes your music taste, even though I don’t really consider myself to have one.
From my perspective, the reason I don’t have a music taste is because every song I have on each one of my playlists is a song someone has played for me that they discovered themselves. Oh, and that playlist of seven songs I just shuffled, yeah, the title is literally, “Abby’s songs.” The one right next to it is, “Michaela’s chill,” and the one right after that, “Jeep Songs by Drew.”
For me, songs represent the person you are with. They embody a personality of their own, revealing notes and tunes that make up an individual’s story.
“I feel like you are listening to the deepest depths of my soul,” my best friend Abby shared as she was showing me the song “Catastrophize” by Noah Kahan. However, even before she had spoken those words, I could feel the emotions she was feeling, as well as the thoughts running through her head, just from the lyrics of the song.
The same goes for my cousin Michaela and my brother Drew. Each of whom, without being fully conscious of it, allow me to see a snip-it picture of what their minds and hearts are wrestling with in different moments. They might call for goofy laughter or the deepest eternal fear, but something is revealed.
In our current age, everyone is so desperate to make an image of themselves known (even through stereotyping someone’s music as their “vibe”) that we often forget the importance of how to be intentional by looking at the simple aspects of life that make up a person. The lyrics of the songs we identify with can sometimes speak louder than our own mouths ever could.
With all of that being said, I guess my music “taste” unveils how I crave the moments when I can be with someone, even when they are not physically in my life for a period of time. I also do not feel like its entirely my responsibility to figure out my taste either.
Instead, I will continue to sit in my 2012 Chevy cruise, listening to music that allows me to relive moments of intentionality. I will be listening to “Abby’s songs,” thinking of how we are still encouraging one another as sisters in Christ while she is out in Rwanda. I will be listening to “Michaela’s chill,” thinking of how much she has taught me even though she is in Oregon for school. And finally, shuffling through “Jeep Songs by Drew,” I’ll be thinking of the precious moments we share together, even though he is out in California.
And that is my complete zen.
