Living without music for a week

My eyes fluttered open to hip hop beats unfamiliar to my ears. Like reflex, I got up and started dancing to the tunes until realisation hit me and I stopped dead in my tracks. I dove right back into bed and covered my head under the pillow. I needed to drown out the FORBIDDEN SOUNDS.

My brother in the next room became the biggest obstacle in my challenge. I had become so used to the house always having some music in the background that now it had become difficult to realise when I was breaking the rules. The music was now a part of me, a part I could not differentiate from the rest of me. But I had to do this. I couldn't give up so soon.

I continued with my daily routine of checking all my social media, and that is when I faced my second obstacle. I kept scrolling through the posts, my hand itching to turn the sound on. I felt like I was betraying my queen, Dua Lipa, as I only watched her silently perform, not being able to satisfy my urge of listening to her entire album at least once a day.

I decided to quit Instagram and head on over to Messenger, hoping I could find comfort in friends. But no, the universe decided to be extra cruel to me that day. My musically talented friend texted me all excited and sent me his demo. Now, I could have explained to him that I was challenging myself to no music for a week for no reason, or I could lie and tell him it was "nyc", the way I rate all of his music. I decided to do the latter and have no regrets.

The next few mornings, I had suddenly become all about fitness and decided to go on jogs with a friend. The socialisation made it easier to not require music while we jogged, but the problem was, this friend was a major K-pop fan. All she could talk about was music and she wanted to do entire dance routines after our jogs. Let's just say I was responsible for one unhappy and deprived K-popper for a week.

Watching YouTube videos and binging on TV shows is one of the most integral parts of my life. This week, I learned just how much of a musical aspect there is to literally everything in media. I thought it would be better if I started watching Twitch streamers play some video games but then they decide to play some music in the background as well. It came to a point where it was just not worth trying to watch anything.

And so, the biggest struggle began. How do I entertain myself? It quickly became clear to me that the only real forms of entertainment in my life involved music. I started reading books, dabbled into the world of calligraphy, looked at memes, talked to people. It was all going fine but something felt amiss. I was aching for some sweet tunes.

If there's one thing I learned from this experience, it's that if I can make it through life without music for a week, I can make it through anything.

Mayabee Arannya is a confused soul still searching for a purpose. Give her advice on life at facebook.com/mayabee.arannya