If you wrote in a diary as a kid and kept it around long enough to reread it years later, you’re probably familiar with the wave of nostalgia that hits when you remember all the little insignificant things you were worried about, or how something little you didn’t think much of at the time has completely changed your life. Whenever I’m at home, I usually take a few minutes to flip through all my old notebooks; I try to remember what sixth grade Ashley was feeling and how she was still trying to figure a lot of things out. More than a few things have changed in the past 9 years, and I don’t keep a diary anymore (although journaling is supposed to be good for you). However, I’ve since come up with easier ways to capture how I’m feeling.
Somewhere near the beginning of 2019 (probably in the middle of a sleet/drizzle combo that every student in an on-campus winter term has experienced), I came across the idea of making monthly Spotify playlists to store the songs you liked the most from each month. It’s almost like the Spotify Wrapped function, but a little more specific and a little more personally curated. At the beginning of the month, I would create a new playlist, and over the course of that month, add songs that I really loved, or the ones that were special for one reason or another. While it’s not quite a diary, and my music tastes change every once in a while, I’ve found that each month captures a certain mood that I almost definitely would have forgotten about if not for the playlist.
In January, my friend Emily and I sat together on the bus to a swim meet and listened to “Hammer to Fall” by Queen through shared headphones. February was all soft songs and Ariana Grande’s album and March was 2000’s pop punk. Remembering what music I was listening to brings me back to how I was feeling, and the headspace I was in during those times.
I can look back and remember that there was a day in May when I listened to “Under Pressure” on repeat for almost 2 hours because it helped me focus on finishing a paper during finals. In August, I discovered what is now one of my favorite songs (“Not There Yet” by Eric Hutchinson) and it’s been in every monthly playlist since.
Even though my music taste has changed and evolved since I started this, I still like the songs I listened to 8 months ago, and they’re even helpful as normal playlists! Sometimes I’m just in a January mood (Queen, Panic! at the Disco, and Lemonade Mouth), and I almost always shuffle through March or August when I’m in the gym.
To summarize, I 100% recommend this as a way to organize your songs for these two reasons: it’s so much fun to reminisce on songs you loved, and it’s extremely satisfying to see the playlists build up as the year goes on. There’s only one month left of the year, and I’m excited to see where my December playlist will end up. After that, who knows what 2020 will bring?