time can let the mind forget
Some thoughts on trying to shift my mood through color + the psychology of it and rediscovering Reliant K
Lately, I’ve been dipping back into the psychology corner of my brain. I would’ve minored in it in college had I taken just one more class but with the mess that was my last two years of school — changing majors, two jobs ( plus an internship at one point), moving, and everything else that happened from ages 19 to 21, I didn’t bother.
But at some point, in one of those classes I took, which were largely online and full of distracting myself by eating breakfast in one of those single person study rooms at The Hub (which sadly no longer exist) with its large windows overlooking part of campus where I would study before my lecture classes, I learned about color psychology.
As summer shifts into fall with Nashville dipping to 55 degrees (as a former Floridian, anything under 53 is considered “cold” to me), and a high of 75, the afternoons feel more like spring than a fall that is Florida’s winter. But I can also blame this on the fact that I barely went outside from March-June and when my mom did manage to drag me outside of the house, it was too hot to bear.
All of this to say, I’m already dreading another winter, which I may be more unprepared for than the last, and am attempting to shift my mood through color. The colors of fall are red, orange and yellow both due to nature itself and the nature of corporations using this time to create pumpkin spice everything while pushing the need to liven up your bedroom/living room/bathroom/etc to match the new season (getting the Target app was a mistake and now I get too many emails).
But as someone who loves home decor and finding ways to make my apartment reach peak comfort, I finally returned to my favorite activity for the first time in months on Saturday, thrifting. All the furniture in my place aside from my bed, couch, and desk (target) are second hand, either from a place like Goodwill or Facebook Marketplace. And a majority of belongings, I’ve had for years or were given to me by my mom.
My room is largely blue. I bought a world map tapestry in 2018 and when I moved, got blankets to match which also happen to be the same color as my marketplace bedside table. While the color blue is usually tied to sadness and like sadness, comes in many variations, it’s “technical definition is cited as “of the color of the clear sky”. True blue (Hex: #0000FF) is associated with tranquility. Like the sound of waves hitting a shore as birds chirp nearby.
My goal when I went out on Saturday was mainly to find some kind of shelf or stand both for plants and some books/CDs. On the way, I listened to Reliant K’s Mmhmm, a band I haven’t listened to since 2014 when they did the 10 year tour for that record and I was deciding if it was worth asking my dad to take me to their show in Orlando. But the date was near Thanksgiving, so I didn’t and am now wishing I had. I’ve been thinking about this band again for the first time in years (if you listened to any alternative radio station in the early 2000’s you probably know them too) after hearing “Therapy” for the first time at three am while merging onto the highway on the first hour of my eight hour drive home a few weeks ago (and yet another band my friend James (re)introduced me to after adding that song to a playlist I made for that drive).
Coincidently, one of the three thrift stores I went to on Saturday, which I primarily go to for it’s huge CD section, had three different Reliant K CDs with Forget And Not Slow Down, the record Therapy’s on, being one of them. In addition to finding Bloc Party’s A Weekend In The City and Crying’s Get Olde Second Wind, I bought it and listened to the record for the first time on the way home.
“She's almost brighter than the Sun
Seems to me to be unfair
When you consider everyone
Who pales when they compare”
To me, Candlelight feels like the color yellow — both due to its subject matter and tone. The song is wrapped around a “moth to a flame” metaphor and tips the line more toward endearing than cheesy. The lyrics are carried by clean, bright sounding guitars and a bouncy drumbeat.
In a different yet similar way, Favorite Song by Waveform* also feels like the color yellow. While Candlelight is like a cheery sing along on a long drive with the person you like, Favorite Song feels like sitting on a couch while wrapped up in a warm blanket and watching TV at a low volume with that same person. Both songs feel like different points of comfort.
The color yellow is one that I’m trying to add more of into my home, both due to the color psychology of yellow being “uplifting and illuminating, offering hope, happiness, cheerfulness, and fun” and the fact that once the time change comes in November, it’ll be a nice contrast to the darkness. So far, it’s a smiley face mug and flowers (which name I forget) that sit ontop of my bookshelf in the hall between my kitchen and living room (where my work desk sits). I do smile when I pass by it and according to science, just making yourself smile does boost your happiness.
It’s been pretty nice to think about my mood state and not wonder how many times I can push it aside. Maybe I’ll have some different takeaways as I listen to this record more but it’s been nice to slow down and not forget.
I am a Big Music Fan and excessive playlister. If you want to throw any funds my way, they’ll be donated to the Nashville Free Store (open every Saturday from 12pm-6pm CT) & Nashville Community Fridge (always open & regularly stocked) located at Drkmttr (the city’s only all-ages venue) here in, you guessed it, Nashville.