I’m a recent convert to listening to tunes while I’m walking outside. In the past, I’ve been content to have my own thoughts for company, and to enjoy being present with Nature. I was over at the Itunes store recently and was inspired to download some upbeat music for a workout playlist. I’ve found that I do tend to walk at a faster pace.
I was out for a walk on one of my favorite open space paths in Boulder earlier this week, listening and bopping along. A lot of what is on the playlist is music from my high school years. And I got to thinking about how music from that time always lifts my spirits, and why is it that we get so attached to the songs of our teen-age years? Granted, I had the Beatles and the Stones and the Beach Boys providing the soundtrack. But I also had less notables like The Archies and Vanilla Fudge. (Did you know that Iron Butterfly and Buffalo Springfield are classifed as “one-hit wonders?”).
I was walking and singing “you are my candy girl…“, and what occurred to me was that even though I experienced my share of teen-age angst (primarily because of my weight and feelings about my body), this music connects me to a time when my dreams were still bright and shiny, and everything seemed possible. Listening to that music as I walk, at a time when I am connected to my body, is like taking some Brasso to the dreams that have gotten a bit tarnished, and reminds me that the future is still bright and shiny and the possibilities are infinite.
And then it shuffles to Lady GaGa, singing “Money“…
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