Music is Often Better Than Prozac

The other day I read an online blog by a young lady that sounded as though she had hit the very bottom.  Nothing was going right in her life. She was burdened with guilt, and felt moody, depressed, hopeless, sad, and just plain tired of life. 

Her condition was not an uncommon one. Most of the people I know these days seem to be entering into, struggling with, or emerging from a period of depression.  Some of the cases we encounter are serious, and the problem cannot be overcome without the help of some type of medical attention and, perhaps, an appropriate medication. Others seem far less debilitating and may yield to lesser types of treatment.

One of the most common, but often overlooked ways to bring us out of a mild depression, a blue funk, or, as many have termed it, a "bout of the blahs," is to expose ourselves to music.  Lots of it .

Several years ago, when I felt that life seemed pretty worthless, someone gave me a CD by Cristy Lane called, "One Day At A Time."  I played that poor little CD so many times it wore out but, before it did, something happened deep down inside me, and my whole outlook on life improved.

My recovery was not instantaneous but came gradually, one day at a time, and as I played and re-played that CD, my spirits began to rise. I frequently found myself humming the songs from the CD as I went about my daily chores. One day, I even amazed myself at how happy I felt, and I laughed out loud. 

Even now, whenever I have one of those "I can't take another minute of this" days, the title song from the CD, One Day At A Time, pops into my head.  And, the truth is that one day really is all we have to face at any given time, and most of us have to admit that we can do that, even if the days beyond today seem too bleak to contemplate at the moment.

Before sharing this, I asked a number of other people if music had ever helped them when they were feeling really  "down."