Songs That Are Helping Me Through a Bad Time in My Life

Hello everyone! Today my article is a personal one. These songs are all songs that have helped me out recently. Most of my friends know I haven't been okay mentally the past few months. I've been almost suicidal at times this year. I honestly don't know what has caused this sudden downfall in my mental health. I am in the process of getting counselling and I'm fighting every day. For those who don't know, I have doctor diagnosed OCD, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Clinical Depression.

Anyways, music has really helped out quite a bit. I Googled songs that are about mental health and found one site that listed all these songs about mental health problems. I started searching a lot of the songs, mostly ones by artists I recognized and then some that I didn't recognize. I found lots, but I will list the ones that have helped the most. I will be focusing on the lyrics and not the song itself.  I will also include the lyrics that stuck the most for me. This list is mostly about the recent songs I have found, not old favourites, because they aren't about mental health. They are about the oddest things but they have been helping me relax every night to help me sleep. I listen to music every night just to calm down enough to sleep. 

Here are the 5 songs that have been helping me cope:

Kodaline 'One Day'

This song I found a few weeks ago. The lyrics describe a girl going through depression or some other kind of mental problem in my opinion. That is what it means to me. I can relate to the lyrics "One day it's here and then it's gone/How are you still holding on?" speaks to me by the fact I'll go days where I'm fine and my OCD is not bothering me and then the next day everything changes and I'm back to being in agony. I also relate to these lines "You've felt this way for far too long /Waiting for a change to come" because I have had OCD for so long and I expect it to get better but it never does. Finally the other lyric that gets to me is "You always try to see yourself /Through the eyes of someone else" because of my coping mechanism of making new people in my head. It's really too long to explain here. I might make a article about this coping mechanism I have but today is not that day. 

Owl City 'Silhouette'

I love this song so much. It is a perfect way to explain what it feels like to go through mental health crisis. I could quote literally every line in this song because it is so relatable. One of the most relatable lines is "I'm new to this grief I can't explain /But I'm no stranger to the heartache and the pain" because I have had OCD for years but recently it's gotten worse and is slightly different,  so I'm new to the suffering yet very familiar with it.

Twenty One Pilots 'Car Radio'

This song is one of the most helpful songs on this list. I found it a few months ago and to me it helps describe intrusive thoughts. The song is about someone suffering from either really bad depression or intrusive type thoughts, who's car radio is stolen and they can't listen to music in their car anymore which is their distraction. This song also reminds me that I'm not alone in having to distract myself to get by. 

 I have been trying so many things to distract myself from my OCD that when I don't have a distraction my mind feels like I'm at war. The line "Sometimes quiet is violent" speaks to me because I feel like I can't just sit around and have to listen to my own thoughts. I have to distract myself. Another 2 lines "I ponder of something terrifying /'Cause this time there's no sound to hide behind" again describe what it's like not to have a distraction.

Sum 41 'Slipping Away'
This is just a really short song from their album 'Chuck'. It really helps describe what it's like on really bad days. The entire body of the song describes what it's like day to day during a period of poor mental health. "I'm trying to make it through each day /I'm falling apart now in every way /I'm finding it harder to get by /There's a hole in my heart /And I don't know why /Now I've come to realize"

Twenty One Pilots 'Truce'

When you are mentally unwell you literally live day to day. This song describes what it's like to go through that. It is also a song that reminds me to just keep going even if it's day to day. This song doesn't have many lyrics, but you don't need many lyrics to get your point across. It is also a song discouraging suicide and that can be important when the agony won't stop.

I hope you take time to listen to these songs, they are good songs. I hope I haven't alarmed anyone with this subject. Please don't worry about me, I'm making it through all right and I am receiving help. I'm not suicidal currently. I thank you all for reading and I will post another article next week

-Amy Katrina