I made a Workout Playlist

I often find myself plucking my ipod from its precarious position in mid-stride to scroll through my lists of songs to find the one (the exact one!) that I'm in the mood for at that moment. This is a dangerous proposition at times because of traffic (while outside) and the danger of striding off the tread mil (while inside). Therefore, I have made myself a workout playlist. They often give sample playlists in the fitness magazines I read but more often than not, Self's playlists include Fergie, Brittany Spears, Usher and the other types of music I do not care to listen to let alone that will inspire me to run faster, longer.

 My playlist includes Supermassive Black Hole by Muse, Spotlight by Mute Math, and Rabbit Hearted Girl by Florence + The Machine. I have such Anthem songs like Nothingwrong by Jimmy Eat World and Come Alive by Barlow Girl that are just as much about the words as the beat and the music. I look forward to working out when I look forward to the music. And I enjoy and push myself to every single song instead of skipping around to my favorites, losing my pace. Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot is a solid 7mph  4-minute song that is at once exhilarating & singly exhausting. Depending upon my mood, I'll move this song from the middle-hump to the last good push to get me through. To cool down, I have A-500 from (believe it or not) the Miami Vice (2006) Soundtrack.

I read a blog posted from Aimee, and she'd posted a bunch of slow, pensive songs that get her to or keep her in a creative mood. This made me think about the music that I go to, the music that inspires or relaxes or releases me. God sure knew what He was doing when He created music and we could spend lifetimes studying why these vibrations and tones and beats produce the feelings in us that they do. In those dark places of life, in all those desperate, aching nights and days, all the credit goes to our Father for the light that eventually pulls us out. In my own times of searching and pain, my husband was the face and hands and heart of God. The release, however, was found not only in these two, but also solidly in the music that surrounded me and poured into me during these times. I broke two elliptical machines while pounding out my anguish to Raining Again from Moby. I would turn out the lights in our Hannibal basement and move or dance or whatever it was to Shut us Down by Lindsey Buckingham,  War On Drugs from Barenaked Ladies, Pain from Jimmy Eat World,  and Never Alone by Barlow Girl, and each time I did, I would be reduced to tears.

 

Then, there are all the songs that take our hearts in their hands and imprint themselves on our memories. I remember rolling down the windows with Jered and blasting Imogen Heap's Hide and Seek, both of us singing at the top of our lungs even though at the time, we had no idea what the song was about. I remember the first time I heard the beauty of Fix You from Coldplay. I remember the hilarity of the first time I heard Jered sing 4 Non Blondes's What's Going On. Or even recently when Jered played Rolling in the Deep from Adele and with one look at each other, we both knew that we both felt it. It. That Whatever It Is that pulls at our souls when we hear something that moves us.

Anyway. All that to say that I've been thinking about music and I finally made a workout playlist.