Everyone has a different personality that defines parts of them.

Everyone gets upset over different things and everyone has different ways of being cheered up.

I thought about a few different things to blog about today ... most of them scandals (yes, the Penn State ridiculousness crossed my mind, as did the parents who fought at Chuckie Cheese this past weekend in Southgate), but as I sit here listening to my favorite Pandora station, I want to talk about music.

Stress takes over my life often. I get frantic and frustrated with little things because I'm such an obnoxiously-organized person. If things don't go according to schedule, I stress. And trust me, things don't ever go according to schedule in journalism. There's breaking news at the most inconvenient times. Criminals decide to start a car-chase or make a bomb-threat an hour before deadline. Police don't ever want to do an interview right away. I could go on and on...

I'm like this outside of work, too. In college my life was color-coordinated. Every job and class had its own color and I wrote in a planner according to color. I had time-slots for homework and for socializing. I know, it's weird, but hey it got me a bachelor's degree in three years!

My frantic, stressed-out personality has plenty of curses on my life. I've realized recently more than ever that being frustrated about little things doesn't only affect me, but also the people around (especially if those people have to live with me)!

It never fails that when I'm frustrated or stressed, I need to listen to music. I relate everything in my life to music. I have songs that represent my childhood, songs that represent getting over silly fights, songs that make me laugh, songs that make me cry... they all mean something different and bring me to necessary realizations. I don't have a favorite genre, I like them all. It depends on my mood.

I have a good friend who is the same way - we both use song lyrics to define moments in our life. Heartbreaks, falling in love, confusion about relationships, hating our jobs, needing a laugh, getting over a death ... each of these, and many more, are categories full of songs.

It's difficult to describe if you aren't the same way. Song lyrics stick with me. I always remember them. When something goes wrong, I think of a song that I can relate to and listen to it. It's a sort of sense of not being the only one who feels that way. It's the same feeling for when something amazing happens, there's a song for it.

At work I have my headphones in most of the day. I play Pandora all day long while I write. It calms me and every time a happy/silly song comes on, I remember to smile and that things aren't ever as bad as they really seem, no matter how stressed out I may be at the moment.

I identify myself, every part of my personality, with music. I listen to it, I sing it, I play it, I love it.

I would love to hear if anyone feels the same way about music, or anything that you use to take stress away or define yourself. Maybe you like to write poetry, maybe you like to take photos, maybe you like to draw artwork. Whatever it may be, please share!

Until next time, keep singing on.

"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." - Plato