I've always been one to firmly oppose being prescribed antidepressants. It's not because I don't believe in modern medicine, and the use of pills to help you in everyday life but because I personally have not had good experiences with them. What was supposed to increase my serotonin levels, would just leave me drained and incapable of going about my day. The drugs were not helping my depression, instead, they were burying me into a greater black hole of my own thoughts and feelings. I'm sure I am not the only one who feels this way, in fact, I personally know people who claim that antidepressants do nothing but harm to their mental well-being. So this little dilemma poses a question of if antidepressants are unable to help some individuals to cope with and fight depression, then what will?

To me, the answer was closer than I thought. In fact, it was right here all along. It was music. Something that has always been near and dear to my heart, yet I never thought it would be exactly what I needed to help me out of my slump. Music, no matter what genre or form it comes in, has a way of drawing emotions out of the soul, and that includes negative emotions. It doesn't always need to have complex lyrics or melodies, just a beat and an instrument are all it takes to bring life back into that lost and depressed void.

There is not a person I have met who said they did not like music. Music is the universal language of love, of compassion, and of quite literally every possible emotion a human being might experience throughout their lifetime. Sometimes, when everything around you feels uneasy and you cannot help but think that life is caving around you, just turn on one of your favorite songs and close your eyes. Listen to the lyrics, to the beats and the melody- they are there for you, to guide you through whatever you might be going through. I used to find myself chained to my bed, with no desire to do anything or talk to anyone, until I began to bury myself within music. There was so much music I listened to. Every genre, countless artists- I listened to it all, and on my good days, I threw on a song and sang it the top of my lungs. Forever thankful to music and the joy it has brought back into my life.