Music's Effect on Mood

My alarm went off four times this morning before I could drag my aching body out of bed. The dark morning laid heavy on me and getting out of my lovely, cosy bed and feeling the chill of the day wasn’t really the best start to the day. If you didn’t know already, I HATE mornings. It is very rare that I wake up and feel happy or enthusiastic for the day and I don’t really function very well before my morning coffee. This morning was no different.



I stumbled downstairs with little one in tow and didn’t feel like doing anything, I just wanted to crawl back into my comfortable bed and blank out everything. However, being a mum of two school-aged children this is not possible. Instead I made breakfast for everyone, made sure they had a drink and then set about having my coffee. As the sun came up I saw the bleak outlook of the day, the damp drive and gloomy clouds didn’t brighten my mood any. 

I hurried the boys out of the house and got them to school on time, listening to their bickering in the car on the way. Again, not something that made me feel any better. I was beginning to wonder if I should just go back to bed. I walked back to my car after the kids had gone into school and sat there for a moment, hoping that something would make me smile. I breathed in slowly, started the car and headed for Tesco.

The music system in the car randomly chose a song I don’t usually like, Zombie by The Cranberries. Whenever this song comes on I skip it but this morning I just left it, couldn’t be bothered to press the skip button. As I listened to the lyrics something magical happened, I smiled. I know it’s not the best uplifting song but I think what happened was the lyrics spurred my determination and I sang along as I pulled up in the car park of Tesco. I wandered into the supermarket and decided that I would bake the kids some cookies. This is something I haven’t done for years.

So here we are. It’s 10:20am, I’ve been to Tesco and bought cookie ingredients and this afternoon I’ll be doing some baking, all because of a song. If I’m honest I kind of liked it. I like being able to listen to music and have it lift my mood so completely that not even the gloomy winter can bring me down again. Right now the sun is shining outside and I feel great. How’s that for a turnaround?

Do you have a song or album that you listen to lift your mood? Is there something that you do to cheer yourself up when you’re feeling down?

SuperBusyMum