It’s no doubt that music is one of the few things that has the ability to remain timeless. It is such a large part of many people’s lives, beautifully telling the stories of who we are, who we once were, and what we feel without us needing to say a word. So much of it lives within the playlists we compose over the years, holding some of the deepest parts of ourselves within the lyrics we relate to. You want to know something about a person? Ask them about their music taste. It can tell you more than you may realize.

I know for me, my love for music has always been such a driving force in my life. I see it in how I craft my own playlists and reflect back on who I was when I made them, and even how I listened to the songs. I think there is such beauty in the timelessness of it all. Music becomes our very own time capsule into our past and present, an archive we can return to whenever we want. You can hear a song you once loved at 18 when you’re 23, and somewhere inside those three minutes is still the person who first heard it. You begin to understand the lyrics differently because you’ve changed and grown, but the song still holds those same feelings you originally attached to it.

Think about all of the wonderful songs we loved growing up. In many instances, they are associated with particular moments that formed those memories, like hearing a song on the radio in the backseat of your mom’s car on the way to school, the music played at cookouts and family reunions, or the songs our loved ones enjoyed so much. Without realizing it at the time, music became part of some of the core memories we now get to reflect on.

Have you ever wished you could go back to how it felt the first time you heard one of your favorite songs? The feeling it gave you, the excitement of realizing you had just found your new favorite song. We attach music to memories of our childhoods, certain people, or even a particular feeling that existed when we first heard it. Those emotions still live somewhere within the words and melodies, waiting to come rushing back when we hear the song again.

This is such a beautiful concept because it’s not just about the music. It’s about what music provides us with: memories, the passage of time, identity, and the versions of ourselves that it preserves. We can revisit a song years later and still remember exactly what it meant to us then, while also hearing it through a fresh set of ears that has lived more, learned more, and grown into someone new.

It’s symbolic in a way, right? Having this large medley of music to revisit when you want to remember what certain moments of your life felt like, while also being able to redefine your appreciation for those same songs as you grow. I find myself listening to the music I loved years ago much more intentionally now. Sometimes I hear lyrics and think about how I never really understood the weight of them until I experienced something similar for myself.

That is another interesting layer of music. The more life you live and the more lessons you learn, the more your understanding of a song can evolve with you. Music has gotten us through the best of times and the worst of times, and it will always be there for us to return to, allowing us to redefine what it means to us along the way.

I encourage you to reflect on your own relationship with music and how it has shaped you. Revisit the songs that were the soundtrack of your formative years, and appreciate all the emotions they helped you carry along the way.