Week 41. Seventeen

This week I was reminded many times about the time I was 17 years old. By things I liked back then (it’s been a hot minute since I’ve been that age, let me tell you that), the things I was experiencing, the things that were important to me then, popping up into my life now. For me it was an in between time, a time of transition from one stage to another but it also had a specific kind of sense of peace to it. What comes up for you when you think back to when you were 17 years old? What can you bring back to your life, incorporate more of into your life today, or maybe what is it that you are glad you’ve stopped since then?

Not surprisingly, Frank Sinatra’s “It Was A Very Good Year” rang in my head while remembering myself at 17 years old.

Unexpectedly, this week my car radio got out of range so I had to run through stations again, to catch something to listen to. To my surprise, it kept tuning into a classical music station. Usually, the second I hear that kind of station it reeks of pretentiousness, as if it would be saying: “Only the cultured people listen to this radio station”. So if you’re in your car, driving the 5th hour with sandwich crums on your lap, wearing sweatpants, then it feels like the radio station itself is silently judging you for “not being cultural enough”. To be honest, the only times I actually searched for a classical music radio station were on long road trips, after some odd seven hours of driving, when the legs go numb and the standard radio station music mix goes a fourth round in my head. Then classical music cleanses the mind a bit. But only for an hour, then the next best thing is silence. This time around I was nowhere near a 7 hour road trip (they do have a special place in my heart when they happen once in two years. More often than that instantly gives me a hemorrhoid image in my head). This time it was actually on my daily commute and classical music sounded quite different to me this whole week. Almost surreal. For some reason the compositions created centuries ago, having the taste of baroque, classical-era or XIX century gives a lot of material to imagination to play with while the reality is modern highway at unimaginable for the earlier centuries 100 km/h speed. The contrasting surrounding also somehow acted soothingly rather than irritatingly, which is also not common for me so I can boldly say that my experience of classical music radio stations is refreshed this week. And my car radio is still tuned to it for this time being, which is so odd to admit too. So this week, if you have any inkling to steer towards a classical music station, I encourage you to give it a try. It might bring some unexpected emotions and experiences if you’re open to it.

Have a very good and cultured week.