Moderation

Around 2,700 years ago a Greek poet named Hesiod once said "observe due measure; moderation is best in all things" which would later be shortened through history quite simply as "all things in moderation" as advice for life.  There comes a point when these little pieces of sage wisdom often discounted and discarded as cliché eventually appear to us.  In moments of great epiphany we come to the realisation of truths we already knew but never fully accepted.  This for me is one.

There are a lot of things in life which I have little self control over when it comes to my indulgences but one in particular is my love of music.  This is not something in and of itself that can cause any harm to me from overindulgence - unless you count excessive headphone use and the concern for my future hearing.  Nevertheless there are downsides to my love of something that gives me great joy and pleasure.

The first is what I refer to a musical exhaustion.  This happens when you find a track that instantly resonates with you, so much so that it becomes an obsession.  You play it in excess, and in the extreme you play it on repeat and it becomes the only song you listen to, which leads to the inevitable exhaustion of the enjoyment you get from it.  You then let go of the music and move on.

For me part of the reason I do this is because it represents something new that is a novelty to me and I want to get as much from it as I can, and part of it is simply to increase the play count - which I know I can do through other means without actually listening to it but there's no fun in that.  The reason I do this is because I have playlists that are based on how many times I have played tracks and those tend to be my go-to playlists whenever I want something to listen to and don't particularly feel like shuffling through countless tracks.

The second is a phenomenon known as an Earworm, which is basically when you get a melody, or lyrics, or both stuck in your head to the point where you imagine it and you can't really think of anything else.  Even when you try to, when you have a moment of rest or silence the Earworm wriggles again and the music plays.

Both of these are pretty harmless, and Music whilst described as a drug by some, is certainly something that is very safe to indulge in, even in excess.  Other indulgences not so much, in fact whenever an indulgence can actually cause us harm or have very noticeable negative affects on us we tend to refer to them as a vice.  Things like actual drugs, alcohol, gambling etc are all things that spring to mind, and incidentally those tend to be the first things we think of giving up whenever we try to change our lives.  Moderation is something that is a lot harder to achieve.  Cold turkey with anything is rather simple to achieve, you just have to cut off the supply of whatever you want to give up and then buckle your seat belt and prepare for the rough ride of withdrawal that inevitably ensues.  Moderation on the other hand requires discipline, control, and the willpower to say no when you have the opportunity.

The idea of all things in moderation is one that appeals to me very much, but I've never been able to figure out how to do that with any degree of success, unfortunately.