Music is the Strongest form of Magic

As far as I can remember, I always have been a music lover. As a child I used to record songs from the radio onto cassette (yes, I am that old). Half the fun was trying to get the timing perfect so you had no silly radio DJ talking at the beginning or end, just pure music. My sister and I used to make up dance routines to music videos, and I went to dance classes. Even now, the songs I spent hours learning the choreography too still stick in my head. 

When somebody asks that famous question of your favourite music, my answer is that I have eclectic tastes. How can you answer with just one song or genre? It's impossible. Sometimes the music just gets to you, and you have no choice. 

More recently, I realised that I actually listen to music quite a lot. I stick my earphones in as soon as I leave the house, and they’re with me for my whole commute, whilst shopping, whilst driving, whilst sleeping, whilst blogging. I just love my life to have a soundtrack.

via GIPHY

But is most important to me is how I can use music as a form of escapism. It’s a way to distance myself from the thoughts in my head but also the world. I don’t have to think about the crowded commute or be distracted by the people around me. It helps me to focus, and to zone out some of the anxieties and madness going on inside. 

I recently broke a pair of headphones in the middle of the day, and it shocked me how much it affected me. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I would cope, and I became ultra aware of all my surroundings, and all the things I usually blocked out. Needless to say, I immediately went out and bought another pair. I need my safety blanket of headphones. 

On the flip side, music connects me to the world. I love discovering new artists through recommendations, and creating playlists with my friends. I like dancing to songs and feeling that moment when you can just belt out your favourite tune. To be at a gig for your favourite band, and stand singing along with everyone in the crowd, those moments are indescribable. I feel like part of something big and united and it makes something fizzle inside me.

What is amazing is that everyone has a different story, a different experience. Maybe it's the song you first danced to at your wedding, or had your first kiss. The song of the summer, or that tune you just can’t get out of your head. 

Music is my calmness, my alternate reality when things get too harsh in life. I love that I can just take a step back into the world of headphones, and zone out for a little while. My little world away from the world.

I've made a little playlist of a few of my current favourites. If you bump into me, it's likely I'm bopping along to one of these.

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My Favourite Feminists

I’m a fairly new feminist. Looking back I’ve always had feminist views but I’ve only been identifying as a feminist for the last four years. I’m twenty six and have a lot to learn in my journey into feminism.

Today I wanted to share with you some of my favourite feminists of the moment, who inspire me and are making a big impact on the world. This list could go on for a very long time so I’m hoping to make this into a blog series of sorts sharing about feminists that I love as I go along and discover them. Here are my first group to start with, if you're not already following the work of these incredible women then I've left handy links for you to check out.

Emma Watson

Emma Watson is without doubt one of the most influential feminists of the moment. She's the public face of HeForShe a campaign for gender equality that specifically encourages men and boys to stand up to sexism. Emma's speech at UN got everybody talking and has over 1 million views on Youtube here. More recently she's started a book club called Our Shared Shelf which is an open book club encouraging people to read books on feminism.

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes is a television producer and writer and is known for both her diverse characters and badass leading ladies. Rhimes is responsible for shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder. She's a small-screen powerhouse dominating TV and changing what normal looks like on our television sets. She's recently released a book called Year of Yes where she talks about balancing a demanding career and motherhood with refreshing honesty.

Laura Bates 

Laura Bates is the woman behind the Everyday Sexism project and played a huge role in me recognizing that I am a feminist. On Everyday Sexism the public are encouraged to share their experiences of sexism from the big to the small stuff. What makes this project so powerful is that it shows how sexism is happening now everywhere and everyday making the comment "feminism is no longer needed" redundant. Laura has also turned the Everyday Sexism project into a book.

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is one of the most powerful women in the world right now. She's hugely successful off her own talent as a music artist and continuously promotes confidence, self worth and being women positive to her legions of fans. She gets a lot of flack for "not being a real feminist" but personally I think she's fighting her own fight against sexism in the music industry and doing things her way and that in itself should be respected as being feminist. Blank Space will forever be my personal anthem.

Malala Yousafzai 

Where to start with the powerhouse that is Malala? She is an activist for female education and is the youngest Nobel laureate. She's one of the most respected young women in history and has won award after award. Her story is both empowering and inspiring and has been made into both a film and a book.

Holly Bourne 

Holly is the author of four books for Young Adults. She has released the first two of three books in the Spinster Club series that follows the lives of three teenage feminists. I love that Holly is making feminism accessible for teenage girls. I think that it's so important that girls are taught about feminism from an early age and that's what Holly does in a really fun and  relatable way. The first book in the series Am I Normal Yet? has recently been shortlisted for The YA Book Prize.

Gloria Steinem 

Gloria Steinem is the very best of feminism and has been fighting for equality since before I was born. She's a writer and the founder of Ms. Magazine and is both a leader and spokeswoman for the feminist movement. She's an incredible woman with a mass of awards and credentials under her belt. She's truly an icon for any feminist.

Laverne Cox 

Laverne is an actress staring in one of my favourite TV shows Orange is the New Black. She's openly a transgender woman on both the show as Sophia Burset and in her own life. She's an LGBT advocate and is an icon for the transgender community. She's won numerous awards such as Glamour magazine's Woman of the Year and is known globally as one of the most influential LGBT people.

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Feel Good Music

I love music. I love to put it on loud and dance around my flat whilst singing along (badly but enthusiastically).  I probably annoy my neighbours when I do that but I can't make myself stop.

There are a lot of songs that have memories wrapped around.  Songs that make me smile and laugh. Ones that make the bad days better. And ones I probably shouldn't love but I just do.  And I tend to find a lot of meaning in song lyrics.

I'd struggle to tell you my favourite band or genre because I have ecclectic tastes. I have a special place in my heart for musicals and have a lot of soundtracks in my collection and at the moment I'm on a big Adele kick. But other than that pretty much anything goes.

Here are some of my "feel good" songs. It's taken me much longer to write this post than it should have done because I kept thinking of other better songs to include and having to stop to look them up and sing and dance around to them.

Anything Can Happen from the musical Mary Poppins:


"Anything can happen if you let it 
life out there waiting so go and get it 
grab it by the collar 
seize it by the scruff 
onceyou've started living life you just can't get enough
Anything can happen it's official you can choose the super
or the superficial sally forth the way we're steering obstacles
start disappearing go and chase your dreams you won't regret it"

 Roar by Katy Perry

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me ROAR
Louder, louder than a lion
‘Cause I am a champion and you’re gonna hear me ROAR

Fighter by Christina Aguilera

Makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter

Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson

You think you got the best of me
Think you had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good is gone
Think you left me broken down
Think that I'd come running back
Baby you don't know me, cause you're dead wrong

Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

When I see your face,
there’s not a thing that I would change,
'cause you’re amazing
just the way you are
And when you smile,
the whole world stops and stares for a while,
'cause girl, you’re amazing
just the way you are

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