“ why this is happening to me ?” perspective . When talking about mental health in particular , he says we can solve our own problems with practical application when we use the “ how ” approach . Here ’ s , uhh … how .
Adam Chin
Co-Founder of Enlifted & Procabulary
CM : Can you please explain how our personal narrative and the words we choose shape our reality ?
Adam Chin : [ At Enlifted ] we have a simple model , and the model works like this : words become stories , stories become realities . So , our entire life or reality , we construct it brick by brick like Legos with words . And those words form together over time into larger structures called stories . And the stories form together in larger structures called our perceived reality . Our experience on planet Earth . So , if you break it down like that , sub-optimal words constructed , form suboptimal stories , and those suboptimal stories create suboptimal realities .
CM : Interesting . How much of the stuff we ’ re listening to these days uses suboptimal words ? If music was more language aware , what ’ s the potential there ?
Chin : Mark and I have a concept called the “ Victim Top 40 .” We ’ re into the whole concept of “ victim versus hero ” and our favourite song in the Victim Top 40 is about 20 years old now . It ’ s from Kelly Clarkson , it ’ s called “ Because of You ,” and Mark likes to read those lyrics out loud . You see the entire person ’ s story is constructed around another person ’ s actions . It ’ s a very catchy song , so you ’ re in your car singing along to it at a very impressionable age , you ’ re essentially getting into a pattern and getting very comfortable with a pattern of words that put you in a place in which you are an innocent bystander in your life and someone else is controlling you and your life .
Imagine if that song was called “ Because of Me .” Because of me I do the things that I do on a daily basis . Because of me I choose to stay in my current situation versus move on . “ Because of me ” is much more accurate and as you know , Mike , Mark , and I are much more interested in accuracy over truth because the accurate outcome of “ because of me ” is the fact that if I keep doing all the things Kelly ’ s talking about in that song and singing along with it in and internalizing that as my story , then I will end up living a suboptimal life .
CM : So , what ’ s this mean for music ? Do you think songwriters have the power to elicit change ?
Chin : Certainly in the past hundred years , commercial artists have been paid and they have been elevated in our society to essentially , in many ways , externalize pathologies and to express something that ’ s going on very deep inside of them . And they get a sense of reprieve . And perhaps the audience experiences some catharsis and then , okay , they also feel that way . Like , “ I ’ m going to let these emotions out . We ’ re going to grieve , we ’ re going to cry ,” and okay , you can make an argument why that ’ s either a net positive or net neutral for the world or society at large .
I ’ m less about the value judgement of it , I ’ m more about , what ’ s the phenomenon ? What happens when an artist is going through some sort of pathology or some sort of deep emotional turmoil , externalizes it in a very catchy song , and then earworms it into the wild – into , say , millions of impressionable ears ? Accompanied by some of the catchiest melodies and instrumentation and production that we ’ ve ever created as a species . What happens when that happens ?
What would happen if you took those pathologies , refined them , and you solved them ? You created something that people could build from and be constructive with ? I ’ m simply saying that is there a way to take those things and instead of externalizing them in the raw form , can we do something constructive with them ? Craft those messages and then essentially deliver the medicine or something that people can work to the masses ? And by the way , if you ’ re a misanthropic asshole and you want to ruin people ’ s lives , then do it as you see fit . At least be aware of it .
To wrap this up , I invite us to consider what could happen when we build a solid foundation from within . If you sing it , I bet you ’ re speaking it . That shapes your reality . How much more empowering could we be as artists ? As humans ? What would life look like if we breathed more fresh air out in nature , had fun moving our bodies , held space for ourselves , and created music from a place of strength and healing ? And if those things fail to resonate with us , could we press pause and step away to ask the question , “ why ?” Are we stressing out over someone else ’ s expectations ? The music industry is about to get slammed by a tidal wave of superfans desperate to rock the f *** out . What if we were prepared for that ?
I invite you to go for a “ forty-fiver .” That ’ s a 45-minute , tech-free , solo walk outside followed immediately by a 15-minute journaling session and consider two things : What ’ s the biggest “ problem ” in your life ? Write that down . “ I ’ ve got a real problem with ______.”
Read it . Breathe . Then , scratch out the word “ problem ” and replace it with “ opportunity .” Read that . Anything change ?
When we say “ what if ,” we tend to catastrophize . We tend to think about the worst-case scenario . So , let ’ s flip that . Make a list of what-ifs all about the things that ’ d be incredible to have in your life . For example , “ What if I got in better shape ? What if I ate better ? What if I made three albums this year ? What if I retired early ? What if I moved to Hawaii ? What if my album went platinum ?” Make sense ? Breathe . At the end of the day , we all want to feel happy and loved , right ? What if the answers were inside of us all along ?
Mike Schwartz , a . k . a . “ The Rock Doctor ,” helps musicians solve their problems through the magic of movement , breath , and words . Founder at Music Fit Collective and host of the Music Fit Podcast , Mike is a musician-first fitness professional , educator , author , and speaker and a trusted authority of Musician Wellness . He ’ s also a Soultone Cymbal and Los Cabos Drumstick artist and writes music you can move to under the moniker of “ M3 .” He ’ s the author of The Musician ’ s Guide to Surviving the Rock Star Lifestyle and The Music Fit Method . MusicFitCollective . com .
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