Hum it.
Listen to it.
Play it on the guitar.
Sing it.
I guess I’ve been fortunate.
At an early age I found refuge in music. This bond with music has only strengthened over time.
Now, I’m someone who regularly battles their own demons and darkness, and music has become a bestfriend, an armor, a shield and a weapon.
A few years ago, something happened that triggered the demons and the darkness to come around. They sent their notice and I remember the dread building up over hours and hours and this gnawing, nagging feeling of worthlessness was about to take over. I didn’t want them to take over. I’d gotten tired of them taking over.
Then, as I was about to sleep, I heard a hum – a song.
I’d hung on to hope that the demons and the darkness wouldn’t win. Not then. Not at that moment.
An image popped into my head: the night sky. I was reminded that amidst a dark sky, there are little twinkling stars, but there is also the moon and its light. I was reminded of its immense gravitas that can keep an audience in awe of its beauty as it holds its own in a pool of seemingly empty darkness.
I got up, grabbed my guitar, didn’t bother turning on the light. I hummed and played until my song came into view as clearly as I saw the moonlight in my head.
I didn’t sleep until the song felt complete.
That song is my prayer, my chant – a mantra, if you will. A spell to repell the unwanted and unneeded. It has become a bestfriend. It’s my armor, shield and weapon. At the moment it was written, it was my cure.
Over the years since the songs creation, whenever I feel the demons and the darkness coming around for a visit, I turn to music. I turn to that song.
I hum it.
Listen to it.
Play it on the guitar.
Sing it.
I guess I’ve been fortunate.
From This Suok 