I love music. From the musical scores in movies to going to a concert. Music has often been one of my happy places. A few months back though I realized just how much music has an impact on me emotionally. I knew I needed to make a change.
DOES THE MUSIC YOU LISTEN TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON YOU?
Back in December when Christmas music had taken over everywhere we set our radio in the car permanently to Praise 106.5 because they played Christmas music all day. We often listened to this station before but we’d flip channels if something wasn’t upbeat or there was a commercial on the radio.
Come the New Year, Praise asked it’s listeners to take the “New Year, New You Challenge”. The radio station was inviting its listeners to continue listening through January when the Christmas music was turned off and they went back to their usual music and broadcasting. They asked that you listen for a few minutes every day for 30 days. That was it.
WHAT PRAISE SAID THEY SUSPECTED WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU TOOK THE CHALLENGE:
- Feel encouraged by hope in the music.
- Find a greater sense of God’s direction for your life.
- Be smiling at someone on the road rather than honking.
- Have an outlook on life that is more positive. Because what goes in…tends to come out.
Could listening to a radio station actually have an impact on me in 30 days? I knew that I was often feeling grumpy, stressed and not uplifted when listening to other radio stations and the music they played. Would this be something that would make me feel better? I wasn’t sure but I decided to find out.
It’s now been over 4 months since I took the challenge and really has made a difference for me. There’s been the odd time where other radio stations are playing when I am out and about in places where I have no control over it and I find I pay more attention to what is said in the lyrics. It’s not just background noise. A lot of the time I am not liking what I am hearing and I’ve realized if I don’t like it, do I want my kids hearing that?
SINCE TAKING THE CHALLENGE
This is why currently in our car you will only hear Praise 106.5 on the radio, Disney, and CDs we own. It’s not to say our girls won’t be exposed to secular music and mainstream radio. I’m sure they will be, especially if they are like me and love music! I do hope that they will pay attention to what is being said in the songs and make a decision about it that way. This is something we decided to try for me.
I am calmer when driving (yup, definitely honking less and smiling more). I am often driving with the music turned up and singing a long now and I get to whatever my destination is happy and full of hope. It’s had an impact on me and challenged me as a Christian.
There are still days where I feel like an emotional rollercoaster, those are often the days the songs are playing loud and I am singing with them. I can’t even keep track of how many times I’ve turned on the radio only to have a song that feels like it was meant for me to hear right in that moment.
For now, I will continue to listen to this station and other worship music more often. I’ve cut a lot of other music out. Disney is also often on repeat. I know I’d rather hear my girls singing a long to Rend Collective’s “My Lighthouse” instead of something that’s really not appropriate at all.
Have you ever thought about switching up the music you listen to?
That’s been our radio station too for a while! My toddler now always asks me to sing along when we’re in the car (along with telling me to stop whenever someone is talking… aka a commercial 😂). It always makes me happy when I hear her singing one of the songs while drawing or playing. She’s a good reminder to me to watch what I say/do. Those little ears and eyes catch everything!!
Tamara – what a great post! We love that you not only starting listening at Christmas, but took the #praise30 challenge! Thanks for the shout-out and for listening to PRAISE 106.5!! We strive to keep sharing uplifting music and encouragement every day!
–Julie, Promotions Team
We have a playlist with all the kids favorites on it. I haven’t listened to the radio in YEARS!!
My taste in music has changed a lot over the years and the net result is that my listening habits have also become much more eclectic. As a kid, I went through phases of hair metal (Def Leppard) and gangsta rap (Tupac), then I got into grunge/alt (partly due to Guitar Hero and Rock Band), and somewhere along the way I picked up random stuff like Metric, Paramore, and La Roux. Go figure.
You are so radiant. I love how this started as a challenge and love how you welcomed the new change 💕 p.s photos are on point 😉
Love this so much! Thank you for sharing.
Very interesting post! I never really thought about what music we listen to can affect us like that !
Great post! I’ve started taking advantage of her Google Music subscription more and finding Christian music to listen to in the car instead of just turning on the radio.
Never imagined music selection would have such a profound effect! Thanks for sharing!