Nobody likes to hear things they don’t want to hear. After a while, you get sick of it, maybe frustrated too. It’s annoying, it’s bothersome. It’s the worst, especially when it’s from someone close to you; like yourself. Everyday I have some thoughts that repeat in my head that I don’t want to hear. They’re not bad thoughts, just annoying ones that make me frustrated when they’re said because I don’t want to deal with them. It makes me overthink and sometimes makes me question things for long periods of time, so I use coping mechanisms to deal with them; mainly music and reading.

Music is something that has helped me face a lot of challenges and would always be able to calm me down. I listen to music any chance I get, and I listen to a wide variety of genres, so it is easy to find songs that will help me with my current mood or escape situations and thoughts. Of course, there is always a specific song or band that will somehow manage to lift up my spirits again. Listening to music helps me through my day because it helps me deal with my problems and since I have anger issues, it helps me calm down when I’m frustrated. I used to just listen to music due to the sole fact that it just sounded good, but after listening to it so often, I started to decipher the lyrics. Soon enough, it taught me to appreciate the little things. It started to make me break things down, like verses of songs. This really made me like music and certain songs even more because I was actually finding the meanings to those songs and why I like them so much.

“There are quietly amazing things going on… all around you… if only you’ll stop for one moment and take notice. – And appreciate them.”

-Roz Swartz Williams

Oftentimes when I’ve been listening to music for too long or I don’t know any songs that suit my mood, I switch over to reading. I tend to read mangas and overall fictional books because I love seeing different concepts, designs, and art styles because it shows how amazing and skilled people can be and how creative people can become. I really love seeing other people’s interpretations of the books I read and what they think of the concepts and the plots because their interpretations help me notice little things in the books which also shows how much thought the author has put into it. Reading is almost essential everyday in my life because it opens my mind up and expands it due to all of the different styles, plots, concepts that people have created. Not only is it a good distraction that takes a lot of time, but it also makes me feel understood since there are a lot of characters that I relate to which make me happy because someone was actually able to comprehend and create something that reminds me of myself when I thought nobody could ever understand.

Even though I’m not at my best, reading mangas and listening to music will always help me. They’ve helped me through many parts of my life and they taught me valuable things and lessons through lyrics, manga panels, quotes from characters, etc. However, the most important lesson I’ve learned from it that has affected my life is that it taught me how to appreciate the little things in life. For example, I appreciate the sound waves that go together to create sounds that are pleasing and enjoyable to me with voices that can explain how I feel and I also appreciate the drawings and details in the drawings that creates a whole unique story. Overall, they taught me how to break things down into smaller subjects to appreciate things.

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

-John Wooden