Singing my stress away

Stress is a real thing. I've had more than my fair share of it.

And because of it, I’ve experimented with many different ways of managing it.  Some good (running, boxing, counselling) and some not so good (eating, kicking stuff).  

I’ve come to the conclusion that stress is negative energy. 

Disclaimer: I’m no scientist, so the following sentence is based on something I think I heard when I was still in high school which was [cough cough] years ago. But I seem to remember hearing somewhere that energy of any kind can be changed into a different kind of energy.

Scientists out there, feel free to correct me.

So in my (possibly flawed) logic, that negative energy called stress or anxiety (or both) can become positive energy. The method? I just need to channel it in a positive way.

My anger and frustration become fuel behind my punches. My whirring brain is silenced when I pick up the pace when out running and I need all my energy to keep putting one foot in front of the other. And remembering to breathe, too.

Or they become the power behind my voice as I belt out some song at the top of my lungs … when I’m alone in my car and pretend that nobody can hear me.

Even with the windows up, my car isn’t exactly soundproof.  But I always pretend I don’t know that.  

And they may or may not see me dancing in the driver’s seat as I wait for the light to change. And I may or may not be doing something like this: 

Hey, at least I’m not picking my nose.  That’s just weird.  

Singing is an amazing stress reliever.  It’s something that doesn’t take too much effort for me – except when I don’t know the words.  Then I just make them up.

Has anyone else ever noticed the similarity between singing and yelling?  Or is it just me?   As far as I’m concerned, singing is controlled yelling.  That is, controlled yelling with a melody.

And with that statement, I’ve probably just alienated a bunch of my readers who are far better singers than I.

Let’s see if I can redeem myself somewhat. Singing is much easier on the ears than yelling. In my case, it turns my desire to yell into something beautiful.  It involves taking the negative energy I’m feeling when I’m stressed and turning it into something positive, which, believe you me, is a good thing when I’m in my car and someone else does something really stupid. 

Maybe it’s just the way I sing.  I mean, you don’t have to know me for very long to understand that I’m loud.  Quite loud, actually.  So it goes without saying that whatever comes out of my mouth is going to be loud.

Thankfully I can sing on key. So while I may pierce your eardrums volume-wise, you’ll still have a smile on your face as it is happening.

However, I make no guarantees about your facial expression after the fact. You’re on your own for that one.