Favorite Music & Best Things: Blog Challenge Day 22

In the home stretch, almost ready to sprint for the finish! Today, we're talking my 10 favorite songs and the Best Thing to Happen This Year. I love it when things are all rainbows and sparklies!

I love music.

Seriously love music. Have been having a lusty affair with it since I can remember, thanks to my mom and her love of music.

So, get your Amazon music, your Pandora, your Spotify, your iTunes.. whatever floats your boat, and check out these favorite songs. I've given links to Amazon's digital music for each song. [disclaimer: my favorite music changes regularly, so these are as of this writing. What I'm listening to in a month or a year could be very, very different.]

1. Firebirds Child by S.J. Tucker
2. Mo Ghile Maer by Celtic Woman
3. Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
4. Pachelbel's Canon in D
5. The Mummer's Dance by Loreena McKennit
6. The Mystic's Dream by Loreena McKennit
7. Let It Go from the movie Frozen
8. Now We Are Free from the movie Gladiator
9. With or Without You by U2
10. Doum Doum by Carmine T. Guida


Yeah... that right there makes for a really interesting playlist, I know. But honestly? I don't usually throw them all together in one lump. But whenever I get a new music subscription, these are the songs that make it into my collection right off the bat. Favorites. All time.

Best thing to happen to me this year?

I'd have to say that the best thing to happen to me this year was all the crap I went through at the end of last year.

Heartbreak. Multiple times over.

Depression. Crippling. Debilitating. Not getting out of bed for days at a time. Not eating for no other reason than because absolutely nothing sound interesting enough to eat.

Saved on groceries in November and December, and I lost several pounds. But I also felt like crap all the damn time. So... Not such a great thing on the surface.

However, that dark time in my life led me to where I am right now.

All those hours in bed, I laid there and asked myself over and over and over: What is it that I want out of life, cause what I'm living isn't really living, and it doesn't feel good.

I asked until the answer felt right and felt complete. I wanted more time with my family. I wanted energy to get out and do stuff. I wanted to put myself out there creatively and send more out into the world. I wanted that financial security that I've been missing since I left my J.O.B.

And when January rolled around, I knew what I wanted out of the year. I've been working diligently towards that every day since. Even on the days I deem "off" days, or "vacation" days, I'm still working towards that, because taking care of me was part of that vision. My family and my business can't support me if I'm not taking care of me first.

The very best thing that's happened to me this year, was the depression that happened at the end of last year. Delusional? Maybe. Did I find a silver lining for the crappy dark clouds that filled my life the last two months of 2015? Absolutely.

If you ask me, it's the best damn thing to happen to me this year. The rest? It's all ingredients in the cake that I started making back in 2015. I'll put the icing on this baby in January of next year. Indeed.

Are you enjoying this series? If you'd like to read it all from the beginning, you can hop over to the Intro and read from there. If you have your own blog, and would like to use this challenge to get yourself rolling, or just take a break from whatever you regularly write about, please... by all means... use it! I just ask that you practice ethical blogging and credit your sources. And hop over to my Facebook page and let me know that you're doing the challenge yourself, so that I (and those on my page) can support and follow your writing!

Until next time: Live Large, Lovelies! Muah!

The Music of my Life

Do you have a soundtrack for your life?

I do. It changes, of course, from year to year, sometimes from day to day. I have playlists in my music program that serve as soundtracks for certain kinds of days. Some days, it's dance music, the stuff that I just can't sit still for... I have to get up and dance for those soundtracks. Other days, it's more aggressive; that's my "Warrior" playlist. Don't mess with me those days, I'm likely swinging a metaphorical sword at the demons in my life and fighting big fights.

This past week, I've been taking big steps, and I had to create a new soundtrack for this phase in my life. I've been facing up to some nasty stuff, and owning my shit; tackling the big financial scary stuff, facing the emotions I try so hard not to deal with, taking responsibility for the energy and projects I take on, and learning to say "No" more often to the things that aren't in line with my values.

So "This is my Fight Song", "Let it Go", "Stronger"... these are the songs that surround the track that is my own reading of the essay I wrote about my perfect life.

Because listening to my own voice...

...defining my dreams inevitably (at this stage, anyway) prompts those old programs in my brain telling me that I don't deserve it, that I'm unworthy, reminding me of all those failures in my life, reminds me of all the debt that remains from earlier times when I was irresponsible with my finances. For that, I have to be in my boldest, most daring person, and for that, I need to be a fighter, have my fight songs and remind myself to let it go. I'm not that woman anymore. I'm bolder, stronger, more responsible, more authentic, I am my own definition of me and you can't have or change that. I won't be less than I am meant to be for anyone or anything, so don't even try to go there! Love me as I am, or find your way out the door.

It's true: What doesn't kill you does make you stronger, if you learn from it.

It makes you faster, bolder, braver, prouder. Your tears don't make you weak, if you choose not to fall into the trap of victim-hood. Your mistakes aren't the end of the world, and you don't have to be perfect! They're just a practice run for the perfect version that you're creating, whether that's a business model, your own body, or your dreams.

So, how do you create your own soundtrack?

For me, it's pretty simple. I'm an amateur musicologist (okay, maybe not the best word for me, but the word I want is escaping me this morning), so I tend to group my music by how it makes me feel. It's a daunting task when I look at the thousands of songs I have in my library, with options ranging from classical to R&B. I literally have a little of something from every genre (I think... though usually when I say that, someone asks me about a new genre that I haven't listened to, and I have to go listen and decide if I want to add that!). So.. Here's my process in a nutshell:

Step 1: Figure out my goal.

Well, duh. I have to know what I'm creating this music list for, yes? Am I creating a short 20 minute meditation playlist? An hour's worth of upbeat tracks to keep my feet moving during an hour long walk? Just creating something that I can type like a maniac to? Am I looking for a day of music that will pull me out of a mid-winter slump and make me feel good again?

Define what your purpose is, and figure out what feeling you want to convey to yourself. I really don't give a rat's backside if no one else thinks that Adelle, Celtic music and the theme to Star Wars don't belong in the same list. If it makes you feel good, and meets your goal, Go for it, dammit!

Step 2: Throw it all at the wall, and see what sticks.

Okay, not really. That might work with pasta, I've never tried it. However, when it comes to music, and trying to define a playlist that evokes a particular mood, I do tend to throw most of my music into a big pile, randomize it, then hit "play." When a song comes up that really doesn't hit the target, I hit "skip". If the song just sounds good, I let it play (which avoids my head getting all jangled from partial songs and ear-bugs). However, when something comes on that hits the mark - BINGO! Add it to the playlist.

Step 3: Organization is everything.

So, you've got this mess of songs in a playlist now. What started as a list of 300 songs is now a mere 10-15 songs (more or less depending on what you're trying to accomplish). So, now you can rearrange that new list into an order that makes you happy. Yes indeed. I have done playlists that had the Dixie Chicks alongside Cher alongside John Williams. Who cares if it doesn't make sense to anyone else. This is your playlist, yeah?

Step 4: Enjoy It!

What kind of instructions don't tell you how to make something meant to enjoy without actually letting you know that it's time to enjoy it?

So go plug in your ear buds, or put it on the surround sound and crank that baby up! You might find that you need to rearrange things once in a while, add, delete, whatever. It's yours, so do what you need to do to preserve your sanity. When the list no longer sets you where you want to be, or it's just sitting there collecting whatever unused data collects (the electronic equivalent of dust collecting on knicknacks), then delete the darn thing! Don't feel guilty. It's just time to make a new list, and that is totally okay! Enjoy!

So, now it's your turn.

What songs are in your life sound track?

Is it John Williams or Elton John? Adelle or J. Lo.?