What Your Music Is Doing to Your Mind
You are what you consume. We have all accepted that what we consume during the day shapes our mindset. We conveniently blame social media and its algorithms for constantly keeping us enraged at one another, because outrage drives maximum engagement and, therefore, more time spent on the platform.
But while we talk endlessly about consumption and how it shapes our mind, we almost always give music a free pass. Music, too, is a form of consumption. The kind of music you listen to shapes your mindset. Classical music calms you. It forces you to focus on subtle shifts in melody and harmony. High-octane, aggressive music keeps your amygdala constantly engaged, leaving you in a perpetual state of alertness. Over time, your brain feels this fatigue.
Too much romantic music has its own effect. It makes you softer, less grounded. There is nothing wrong with listening to a beautiful country song occasionally, but constantly consuming music where the lover is endlessly yearning for the beloved stretches it too far. What do you think happens when you meet someone in real life? You immediately default to the same romantic template you have absorbed. Instead of creating your own emotional responses, you borrow the templates handed to you by the music.
Too much rap can do something similar. You begin to think disrespecting others for their choices is acceptable. Too much sad music keeps you perpetually in a victim mindset. You start believing life has hit you hard, even though you have barely lived enough of it to justify that conclusion. Too much of anything distorts the mind, but romantic and sad music are particularly damaging in this regard.
Any kind of music that makes you go down on your knees is harmful. It does not matter whether it is romantic or sad. Do not listen to anything that places another person on a pedestal. Occasional indulgence is fine, but you must learn to switch the music. The next time you plug in your headphones, pay attention to what you are listening to. Does it give you confidence, or does it make you weaker, or worse, does it make you feel like a victim of circumstance?
I love Eminem and Pink Floyd. They are opposites in genre and temperament, yet I value them equally. When I wanted to relax, I listened to Pink Floyd. When I had important meetings, met someone new, or faced a Monday morning, I listened to Eminem for thirty minutes straight. My anxiety disappeared. I no longer felt soft afterward.
Why do you think gyms everywhere play high-intensity music? Because music helps you push out more reps. Try working out while listening to romantic songs and you probably will not even complete your sets. The kind of music you listen to determines your energy level. When your energy is genuinely low, during long travel or while relaxing with friends, any music works. But in most situations, you should avoid excessive soft music, except classical. With classical, you can go all in. It sharpens the mind.
I may offend some people with these views on music, but I urge you to experiment for a few days. Build a new playlist filled with songs that are the opposite of what you usually listen to, and observe how it affects your energy levels.
Whether we like it or not, the content we repeatedly feed our minds shapes our thoughts. And we all know that thoughts shape everything.