When I experience anxiety, I really feel it. I notice my hands start to get sweaty and my thoughts are flying a thousand miles an hour. It’s in these moments that I turn to my tool kit for relief. For me, this involves deep breathing and a good playlist.
Have you ever felt a song meet you exactly where you were mentally? For me this happens all the time. Studies have even shown that music can be a powerful tool for regulating and shifting your emotions. When anxiety hits, it’s not always one kind of song that helps here. Sometimes I need to feel seen, sometimes I need to sit with it, and sometimes I just need to distract myself in the moment.
Another thing that helps me during this moment is to focus on my breath. I try to slow down my breathing and I found a great exercise that I think of for this:
Lessening the Stigma on Mental Health
Artists like Noah Kahan, Zoe Wees, Alec Benjamin, and Doechii all have released songs that openly talk about their experiences with anxiety that are worth a listen. I can feel how they feel trapped in their own mind, controlled by their thoughts, and find themselves panicking. There’s something so human about that which a lot of people can also relate too.
This also isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned Noah Kahan while talking about music and mental health. I have a whole playlist of music dedicated to this.
We don’t always know how to talk about anxiety, but sometimes music does it for us. These are some of my favorite songs that openly talk about experiencing these feelings. Every song like this is helping lessen the stigma around receiving help for mental health.
Some interesting readings:
Image: Photo by Ian Stauffer on Unsplash
This article is part of The Human Collective. Each week we take a prompt and create a playlist and accompanying articles. This week we were looking at Anxiety. Check out the playlist: Songs That Help With Anxiety. Learn more about The Human Collective here.
About the Curators
Jenna B
Music is at the center of everything I do. Whether I’m creating playlists, discovering new artists, or singing along in the crowd, you can usually find me at a concert (over 100 and counting!) or with headphones on, exploring sounds across every genre.