I’ve done a lot of reconnecting lately.
To people. To my past self. To music.

I used to feel like I had this deep connection to music… in playing it, and in listening to it. Music was a major way that I processed my feelings, and when I didn’t know how to tell someone how I felt about them, I’d make a mixtape… whether the relationship was platonic, romantic, or somewhere in between.

One of my favorite pastimes in my formative years was to drive around with no destination in mind, just listening to (often melancholy) music. An inexpensive form of therapy.

But as I’ve aged, maybe I’ve just had fewer feelings to process, but music slowly turned into background noise. Something to put on while I’m working. And the speakers in my car now spend most of their time pumping out podcasts… the equivalent of the dreaded AM radio I avoided as a teen.

So I’ve recently been making my way through my old music library, rediscovering artists and albums long forgotten, and saying goodbye to songs that no longer resonate.

And as I dusted off old tunes from decades ago, it sparked a fire to find new music that pulls at my heart strings. And it turns out that some of that music comes from those very same artists I once loved, in the form of newer albums they released after I stopped paying attention.

So now I have the joy of experiencing something new that is connected to something old.

And that makes me happy.

current mood: satisfied

current music: bon iver – things behind things behind things