What objects tell the story of your life?

Between my ears 

    Many things could tell the story of my life, but nothing speaks louder than the ones I place on my head every day. On its own, it’s just a pair of headphones. To me, it represents my way of energy, emotion, and sense of life. Music has been important to me for as long as I can remember, shaping each season of my life and capturing emotions I never knew how to express.  I always take a pair of headphones, earbuds, or anything that provides melody between my ears. It understands what I’m feeling even when I don’t. You can ask my peers, and they would agree that they always see me with headphones. If I don’t have them, just know that I am having the worst day ever. That’s just how special they are to my character. 

My parents gave me my first pair of headphones; they were definitely cheap and flimsy. Although they barely worked half the time,  they were the light of my world. I would put them on, and they would always give me joy as I put on my headphones listening to my favorite song on repeat. It made me feel like nothing else around me mattered. Those headphones enabled me to open all of the different genres and diverse cultures that interest me. More than anything, music became my escape, a place that I could disappear into when the world just felt too loud. 

For me, after any inconvenience, I use music as a way to regulate my emotions. I am an anxious person at times, for major events that happen; if I get into an altercation with another person; if im in trouble; whenever my anxiety takes control, my thoughts start to get loud. I’m not able to think properly. Often, there is a feeling that always makes my skin crawl, as if there was a spider creeping on my back onto my neck. Very, very unsettling. But the moment when I place my headphones on, it changes everything. I start thinking more clearly, and I can focus better. 

     This does not only apply to anxiety. I use my music as an escape from anything–whether that's disappointment, frustration, boredom, or awkward conversations–there hasn’t been a moment when my headphones didn’t help me out.  There was a moment when I asked my parents if I could sleep over at my cousin’s house, but for some reason that I can’t recall, they said no. I was in fumes because all my cool cousins who made me laugh all the time were going to be there, while they were having fun, I was rotting in my room. As a typical kid, I used to have those thoughts: “What if I just ran away?” or “I hate them so much”. Probably shouldn’t have been thinking that way, but it felt like it was the end of the world! Nevertheless, though, I used music as a way for me to calm down and accept my fate.