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I don’t know about you, but when I start to feel like the world is getting to be a little too much to handle, I tend to flip over into my own personal Default Mode. This typically involves knocking back a few IPAs, plugging my iPod into my fancy-schmancy Bose speakers, and just letting my mind escape for a while.
When I really feel like escaping the daily stresses of life, I’ll frantically scroll through Songkick to check out the local concert scene for some good ol’ live music therapy.
As far back as 7th grade, possibly even before then, live music has been a way to get my head back on track. It’s a welcome distraction that allows me clear out the mess and jumble that builds up and clogs my brain and makes me act kind of like a crazy person. Something about cramming elbow-to-elbow with dozens of sweaty strangers in front of the stage with the bass practically pumping the blood through your veins is oddly liberating. If you’ve ever been to a concert, and I don’t mean that sitting-on-the-lawn-at-an-amphitheatre business––you know what I mean. Those nose bleeder sections are all fine and good, but they don’t leave your ears ringing the next morning in quite the same fashion. You need those up-close-and-personal concerts to feel the full effect of this type of therapy. You need to really be in it and you need to feel that music, even if it is at a Ke$ha concert. (It’s okay. I like her too. I mean, look at all that glitter!)
Waking up after a great concert is like waking up with a hangover, even if you weren’t imbibing the night before. But chances are you were, so now you have DOUBLE the hangover, and it just makes your recollection of the night that much better. You can’t really even live for today because you’re still stuck thinking about last night, replaying the set over and over, noticing that your voice has a hint of raspiness from singing far too loudly along with the rest of the audience. Your step is a bit lighter and–at least for today–you stop worrying so much about paying rent and how many more résumés you need to send out this week and why your neighbor always decides to play Skrillex so loudly around 2 a.m. and how you really shouldn’t wear that shirt for the third time this week without washing it but it covers your growing beer belly so you’ll just be generous with the deodorant this morning instead.
The bottom line is that we work hard, despite what our parents say about our generation. It’s not enough to only have a college degree anymore. You need experience. You need to be multi-talented. You need to be interesting and interested, but you also need to be an adult and pay for things you didn’t have to pay for when you still lived with your parents. It’s exhausting work trying to keep up with everything you’re supposed to keep up with and sometimes you just need to check out for a bit. Sometimes you just need to take a break and snap into your own Default Mode to get back on level mental grounding.
So cheers to concerts and to regaining a tiny bit of sanity within our overly stressful and demanding lives.
A musing by Sarabeth Oppliger
