Nostalgia

If you know me, you'll know that I really enjoy my music. Only after reflecting on it for a while did I realise how much of my life is surrounded by music. I listen to music to wake up in the morning. I listen to music on the way to school. I listen to music sometimes straight through the school day, and also on the way back. As I am travelling, I always make sure to have my trusty cd player at my side. And only recently have I stopped listening to certain types of music before I go to bed at night. Such is the case for a lot of people. Are lives are engulfed by music. Not that this is a bad thing. It can be a bad thing sometimes, but that's not what I'm here to touch on, so ignore that last sentence completely.
Music also has the power to strongly influence our emotions. It can make us happy, sad, angry, etc. It is very helpful to listen to the type of music that can be best associated with your emotions at the time. For example, nothing beats listening to some Tool or Three Days Grace when you're really peeved off at something. Alexisonfire and The Offspring are good for when you just want to go crazy and jump around like an idiot, or bands like Copeland or Mae when you feel like you just might have fallen in love and are on top of the world. Maybe a little Postal Service or Relient K when you just feel like smiling? That's more than enough examples for you to understand what I mean. Eventually, songs or bands start to take on a sort of nostalgic effect. This would have to be the most valuable thing music has to offer in my opinion. Because music is so constantly listened to throughout our lives, we can often attribute certain periods of time or specific events to particular songs or bands. Have you ever popped in a cd and while listening to it, thought to yourself "yeah, this takes me back to when *insert scenario here"? I love that feeling. Speaking in terms of specific days, throwing on Jimmy Eat World's Clarity takes me back to the first days of grade 9 where I was a nervous wreck, and the soothing tracks "For Me This Is Heaven" and "Goodbye Sky Harbor" were the only thing to pacify me at night. As for general points in my life, highs can be associated with cd's like blink-182's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket, and mae's Destination: Beautiful. While some low points can be linked to cd's like Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory and System of a Down's Toxicity. At times, music can take you back to moments that are so incredibly specific. Like everytime I listen to Brandtson, I'm taken back to this one day that I stayed home from school and walked my dog. It relates in no big way to that day except for the fact that I happened to listen to it during my walk with Toby. Why that doesn't happen with all cd's I don't know, but it's great when it does.
Nostalgia is just another great thing you can get out of music. So throw on an old cd, sit back and reminisce. It's pretty interesting finding out what cds you can relate to certain points of your life. It's amazing what you can get out of music sometimes.