MUSIC AND MENTAL HEALTH

HOW I USED WRITING MUSIC TO WORK THROUGH TRAUMAS

A couple of months ago I started my website, simply as a place in which I could gather all the information about my music and about myself as a musician and composer.

Little did I know that a part of my praxis as a composer, my dealing with trauma, anxiety and mental health issues through music would gain the attention it did. When I posted a short description of my EP “Growing Pains”, I was overwhelmed by the response I got to it and I am so grateful for all this support and honestly really moved. It is such and important conversation to have, and I am glad to be part of it.

When I released my EP in May 2020, I had reached the point where I just needed to get the music out of my system. The process had been everything from beautiful to excrusiating, healing and retraumatising at the same time (which can happen as we confront our traumas). So, I needed to “clear out the old”, get on with the process… What I didn’t know was that releasing the EP was just another step in my healing process.

The songs on the EP are not songs about being a victim. They are simply deeply honest tales, about the pain of growing. About the range of emotions you go through when you confront and work through your trauma. About daring to open up and trusting the power of vulnerability, as Brené Brown puts it.

And now this EP, the piece which helped me in the process of working through and letting go, keeps on having a life of its own, as it resonates with others. For me, that is the highest purpose of art: to create something from an authentic place in yourself that reaches the authentic place in another. Perhaps even creating a bond of healing.  

So, I have taken you up on it, acting on all the wonderful words of encouragement I received, and over the following couple of weeks I will be posting blogs about my journey with music and mental health, using my EP “Growing Pains” as a vantage point.

OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS I WILL WRITE ABOUT:

• The process of making the EP – my thoughts behind it and ambitions with it.

• Writing the songs and my own journey with mental health issues, traumas and anxiety

• The story behind each song of the EP “Growing Pains”

In the meantime you can listen to the EP here

And please, if you have any questions, feel free to write a comment. Let’s open up the conversation.

Thank you for following me on this journey.

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