I’ve struggled with anxiety since college and decided, early on, that I wanted to do everything I could to steer clear of medication for treatment. I found ways to cope and, despite going on medication for about 2 years, I was able to wean myself off of it back in 2011 and haven’t looked back. Just so you know, I am not against medication- I’m grateful for finding the right dosage and prescription for me when I needed it, and for many people, it can be a game changer and allow them to feel like they have their life back. When you are struggling, there is no right or single way to approach your treatment and you have to do what works best for YOU.
One of my coping mechanisms has been to surround myself with feel good things… funny movies, upbeat music, positive people and a strong supportive community. I don’t follow instagram and other social accounts that put me into a negative headspace and instead focus on following accounts that work to foster community, support, openness and feelings of joy. I don’t try and shelter myself from reality, believe me, I have dealt with some pretty “real” things over the past few years and feel confident about sharing my experiences in the hopes that others feel empowered to share their own difficult personal experiences as a way to heal and grow and continue moving forward. I am also a big proponent of getting to know people, having real conversations with them and don’t do well with people who feel that their opinions should never be challenged. If you never allow your feelings to be challenged or you shut down when people disagree with you (or worse, you blow up and become angry with them) you will never grow, learn, and become stronger in your personal values. My goal when getting to know a person (with whom I know I share very different ideas and opinions on many subjects), is NOT to change their mind but to get to know why they feel the way they do, put myself in their shoes and understand their experiences enough to appreciate why they feel the way they do. My goal is to come away from conversations like that with a feeling of “I never thought about it that way before”. When you do this you are expanding your mind and growing as a person.
Okay, so I promised you a playlist and I promise I did not try to trick you into reading a whole bunch of my sappy thoughts and feelings in order to “earn” the playlist but I felt I needed to preface this with SOMETHING! One of my mechanisms for feeling better when I have had a rough day or am just feeling a bit sad is to listen to music that you can’t help but tap your foot, smile, move to the beat – and of course, full out dance and sing to in the car or in your bedroom in front of the mirror – I know I am not alone here!! lol! So here you go! A few of my top picks from my playlist!
- All Star – Smash Mouth
- All She Wants To Do Is Dance – Don Henley
- Always Something There to Remind Me – Naked Eyes
- Be My Lover – La Bouche
- Boot Scootin’ Boogie – Brooks & Dunn (one of my Mom’s favorites)
- Bye Bye Bye – Nsync (feel free to judge me all you want, you know you secretly dance to it too)
- Call me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
- Call on Me – Eric Prydz
- I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) – The Proclaimers
- Canned Heat – Jamiroquai (thanks Napoleon Dynamite)
- Channel Z – The B-52’s (add Love Shack in there too!)
- Country Grammar – Nelly
- Escapade – Janet Jackson
- Fly – Sugar Ray
- Fuck You – Lily Allen
- Gettin’ Jiggy With It – Will Smith
- I Can’t Dance – Genesis
- I Can’t Go For That – Hall and Oates (add Kiss on My List to this one too)
- Invisible Touch – Genesis (YES, another Genesis song…)
- It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me – Billy Joel
- Let me Blow Ya Mind – Eve
- Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong – Spin Doctors
- Mambo No. 5 – Lou Bega
- Man! I feel like a woman – Shania Twain
- Men in Black – Will Smith
- Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra
- My Band – D12
- Never Gonna Give you up – Rick Astley (yes, you got Rick Rolled.)
- Never Let you Go – Third Eye Blind
- Old Time Rock & Roll – Bob Segar
- Peg – Steely Dan (there is WAY more Steely Dan on my playlist than their probably should be…)
- Pontoon – Little Big Town
- Philadelphia Freedom – Elton John
- The Real Slim Shady – Eminem
- Ride Wit Me – T.I.
- The Rock Show – Blink 182
- Rubber Band Man – T.I.
- So Good – B.o.B.
- Sold – John Michael Montgomery
- Someday – Sugar Ray
- Starry Eyed Surprise – Oakenfold
- Steal My Sunshine – Len
- Wannabe – Spice Girls
- Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
- What a Fool Believes – Doobie Brothers
There are so many more but I figure this is a good list to get you started! It may remind you of a bad wedding playlist but for me, I like to think of it more like a night at the skating rink back in the 90’s, lol! I use Amazon Prime music for my playlists and for me it is perfect, it fits my needs without any extra bells and whistles. I hope you have a little fun going through these songs and I would love for you to share some of YOUR favorite feel good songs in the comments!!
Coffee, Tea & Inner Peace 