The return to music often starts super small. I doubt it will be like a massive opera, loudly and boldly crashing right back into your life.

Perhaps it looks like this:

• One song starts to feel good.
• You might not skip songs or playlists.
• You start humming a song to yourself without noticing it at first.
• You want to press the play button again.

Those tiny moments, the ones that almost go unnoticed, can be signs that something is beginning to shift.

And they matter. Truly.

When curiosity returns

That’s when curiosity can return, too.

Perhaps you start to wonder about things. You stop and ask yourself questions such as:

• What’s that song?
• What else has this artist done?
• Maybe I’ll listen to something while I cook.
• Maybe I’ll check an old playlist.
• That rain sound is actually soothing again.

It’s not as if you suddenly feel a deep connection with music again, but a sense of curiosity is coming back.

And that in itself can be lovely.

Don’t force it

Be mindful not to rush or force yourself to “get back into music.”

Just because it feels good again doesn’t mean your whole being is ready for more.

One song might be enough.

Silence can slowly start to be filled with other sounds or music again.

Some days you might want music; other days you might still want silence.

That’s not going backwards.

It can simply be part of finding your way back to music.

Your relationship with music might be different

When I started to dive back into music, I noticed very quickly that my relationship with it had changed to a degree. It wasn’t the same anymore.

I started to, at times:

• listen to it differently and notice different things in the song or in my body
• realise that old songs meant something new to me
• become more selective about what I listened to
• balance silence with music, and that balance felt right

And you know what?

That is totally okay.

It’s not about having the exact same relationship with music that you had before.

This rediscovery can actually be fun and eye-opening as we discover who we are now.

The return can be quiet

The return to music, after a pause for whatever reason, is most likely a quiet path that slowly moves towards sound again.

Slowly but surely, you:

Listen to one song.

Start humming again.

Think:

“Oh, I want to hear that again.”

And this is enough.

I would love for you to remember this:

Music doesn’t necessarily come back all at once. You might simply notice it returning in tiny moments, one at a time.