Comfort Zones
Where do you go for comfort during troubling personal times? What is your ‘happy place’? When you’re looking for comfort, do you seek it in someone’s loving arms, do you pour a glass of your favorite wine, do you listen to specific songs, do you drive somewhere? No matter how stable our lives might be, there are always times when things get shaken up and we have a need to find comfort and security.
All things considered, I had a decent week, but on my drive home tonight I found my ‘station changing’ finger restlessly hitting ‘seek’ on my car radio. I stopped on a satellite radio channel that plays music from my youth. Unlike many of my age peers, I do NOT think music from my youth is better than what’s out now. Some music from back in the day is good, as is some music today, but my music taste is definitely not stuck in my past and I often avoid the oldies. Many of those old songs sound silly now and, well, they make me feel old. But I found myself listening to songs from the 1970s and 1960s for about thirty minutes because they felt comfortable, like an old worn out blanket. Some music from that era sounds stupid now but some of it is so familiar that I can sing every word and hum every catchy note. Music is a major part of my life so it makes sense that music is my comfort zone.
Comfort zones involve the senses. A sound, picture or scent can instantly take you to another place in your life, ideally one where things made more sense than they do now. A comfort zone can conjure up a certain pleasant feeling or memory. For a few minutes your whole being is back in that place and whatever is bothering you now is temporarily gone. One song took me back to my first car, another led me to a kiss with my high school girlfriend, another took me to my first dance. Those were powerful milestones in my life and it felt good to visit them tonight. Somewhere near my exit I snapped back into the present reality.
That’s it. No profound ending to this post, just sharing an observation.
All things considered, I had a decent week, but on my drive home tonight I found my ‘station changing’ finger restlessly hitting ‘seek’ on my car radio. I stopped on a satellite radio channel that plays music from my youth. Unlike many of my age peers, I do NOT think music from my youth is better than what’s out now. Some music from back in the day is good, as is some music today, but my music taste is definitely not stuck in my past and I often avoid the oldies. Many of those old songs sound silly now and, well, they make me feel old. But I found myself listening to songs from the 1970s and 1960s for about thirty minutes because they felt comfortable, like an old worn out blanket. Some music from that era sounds stupid now but some of it is so familiar that I can sing every word and hum every catchy note. Music is a major part of my life so it makes sense that music is my comfort zone.
Comfort zones involve the senses. A sound, picture or scent can instantly take you to another place in your life, ideally one where things made more sense than they do now. A comfort zone can conjure up a certain pleasant feeling or memory. For a few minutes your whole being is back in that place and whatever is bothering you now is temporarily gone. One song took me back to my first car, another led me to a kiss with my high school girlfriend, another took me to my first dance. Those were powerful milestones in my life and it felt good to visit them tonight. Somewhere near my exit I snapped back into the present reality.
That’s it. No profound ending to this post, just sharing an observation.
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