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When the Lyrics Find You: How Songs Shape Our Journey
43 Plays5 months ago
In this episode of Wandering the Wild Mess, I’m diving into how we all have those moments when a song instantly takes us back in time—those frozen moments where the music tells the story of where we’ve been, what we’ve felt, and where we’re going. I share personal stories of how certain songs became the soundtrack to my own journey, and how the music we choose often reflects the story we want to hear. Music has a magical way of triggering us to listen to the emotions we need to hear at just the right time. Sometimes, songs come into our lives when we need them most, offering truths in the lyrics that resonate with our current journey. Join me as we explore how music connects us to the chapters of our lives and shapes the path forward.
Alexa play "Beautiful Lies" by Tanner Usrey
Next in queue "Hey Ma I Made It" by Ella Langley
Find the podcast playlist "Wander the Wild Mess Playlist" on Apple Music and Spotify.
Stay Connected
- Website: www.wanderingthewildmess.com
- YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@utahgirlinnash
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heatherdyann
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@utahgirlinnash
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Transcript
Introduction and Music's Power
00:00:01
Heather Morgan
Ever hear a song that instantly takes you back to a moment, a place, or a time in your life? A song that when you really hear it, you're right back where you were when you did. Think about it. Welcome to Wandering the Wild Mess with Heather Morgan. I am so happy you're here. I bring that up because you know how much I love music, but I want to kind of, there's a bigger purpose in all of this. I really want us to talk today about the stories we tell o ourselves in our mind and the power that storytelling with a melody has in our lives, because really our life is just the story we want to feel and the one we want to tell o ourselves.
00:00:58
Heather Morgan
So today we're going to dive into the power of music and how it really connects to our journey in life. And i I know that who doesn't like music.
High School Project and Music's Universal Appeal
00:01:11
Heather Morgan
I remember thinking back and I have to tell you all this is like really weird story. But when I was in high school, we had like this project. I think it was a sophomore and we had to like interview people about a topic like random strangers.
00:01:30
Heather Morgan
And this was not like in a real big time of the ah internet. So anyways, I'm going around and my topic was, why do you like music? So I was like legit at the gas station being like, excuse me, sir, by the Slurpee machine. Why do you like music? And like so randomly, that's what I wanted to find out from people because I remember like, I probably asked no joke.
00:02:00
Heather Morgan
hundreds of people. Like I went to the grocery store, Harmon's back home, like I was asking all these people. And the one thing I remember is out of everyone, like it was kind of an assumption question, right? I'm assuming you like music. It's almost like, why do you like food? I mean, most people like food. So what you're not gonna ask like, do you like food? So I just assume people like music. I remember there was like one person that's like, I don't like music. And I was like, I don't even know. All right, moving on, Cliff.
00:02:29
Heather Morgan
But I remember asking people and there was a such a different array of answers throughout those questions. And a lot of people like talked about how it made them feel right like it helped them change their mood. And then flash flash forward to now in my adult life like thinking back on that like what a profound question to have people have to think about because I don't think you get asked that very often. But it's such a strangely influential part of our life is just the music that we listen to and how we relate to certain things in our lives to a song. And I feel like whether it's memories or just cherished moments, we really can learn ah what a music like like what music has as far as like this magical ability to speak to our souls and kind of guide us through the mess of life.
Personal Story: Pivotal Song and Divorce
00:03:25
Heather Morgan
So I want to share a little bit of a personal story about a journey where I remember a song just hitting my soul so hard. And I heard it again the other day and it wasn't like a super, I mean, I think it should be a super popular song. I don't listen to the radio, but I don't think it got radio play, but it was so good. And it literally was one of those times where the first time I heard it, I was like,
00:03:53
Heather Morgan
this song is like speaking to my actual life scenario situation right now everything I felt in that moment that song that I never heard just it's like it magically appeared in my life never heard it before and now it's I relate and so it's kind of wild to think about that like because I'm sure there's some of y'all have had those moments where you're just like going through life and you're going through something and then this song you're like Was this like exactly written about what I'm thinking in my head because it feels like it. And I love thinking like that sometimes because you realize we're all just doing this wild mess, human experience, like living life for the first time together. But there's so much shared experience and so much synergy and things that we're going through and how we feel about the things that we're going through. And so I'll take you back to the story. This is me.
00:04:52
Heather Morgan
going back to right before, literally right before my divorce. like where Well, before i I said I would like the divorce. So this is June of 2022 and I'm in Oklahoma.
00:05:10
Heather Morgan
And I was there to visit my grandma. She was turning 95. And my husband didn't come at the time because it just didn't make sense. like Flights were so ridiculous like for it to go from Utah to Oklahoma. And he had work and what wanted to use his time off elsewhere. So I went by myself.
00:05:28
Heather Morgan
So needless to say, I'm there and I remember that I was driving. So I stayed in Oklahoma City at night because that actually has things to do. But where my family lives is like small town Oklahoma. So there's not really much. So I was like, doing the drive from Oklahoma City to Marlow, Oklahoma, if you know. And it's just like these random two lanes, it's wide open. And I'm just listening to I don't even know what I was listening to how the same song came on. But it's Tanner us Ray, beautiful lies. And I
00:06:10
Heather Morgan
sat there and just felt every a single word. I think I knew a lot of things were like coming in my mind. They were coming to a head, but it's so crazy how sometimes in life we don't listen to our intuition or things that we know we should be doing, that we know like we need to go in one direction. But for some reason, we're pulling o ourselves back to stay where we are. I know I've talked about that a lot. Our subconscious does not love us to go to places it's never been because it likes to keep us safe, quote unquote. but And when I say safe again, I don't want to digress so much. But really, the safety is that your subconscious was doing that from like,
00:06:52
Heather Morgan
back in the day where we were like cavemen and there was things that were trying to attack us at all the time. And so the familiarity of safety was very important for survival. Fast forward to now, it serves a different purpose and sometimes allows us to stay where we've always been and holds us back from things unless we know how to have an understanding of our subconscious and a healthy relationship with it.
00:07:17
Heather Morgan
But i won't go too deep in all of that that's the little geek neuroscience like psychology piece of me that i love. But what i'll say is that in that moment of time i knew like.
00:07:30
Heather Morgan
so much needed to be different. But I was just so good at continuing down this sweep it under the rug. Everything's fine. What are you doing? Just really heavy on stay where you've always been girl, like you have a good life is fine. Don't change it all up.
00:07:52
Heather Morgan
But as much as I knew and had so many pulls that it, that I needed to make a change, that I know that this was not no longer my path, that it wasn't right for either of us, that some disruption needed to happen. I knew that. And, but I kept it to myself. I kept it to myself because I didn't know what to do with it. But I'm driving down this Oklahoma two lane and I hear this song and it's I'm going to give you a little because I i mean, it's poetry in my mind, obviously. um But it's and I know everything has changed. Nothing's supposed to say this, stay the same. But you've become a ghost in this place. So talk to me. Tell me what I need to hear. Wrap me up with your beautiful lies.
00:08:45
Heather Morgan
I know you're leaving and you're standing at the door. I can see the heartbreak in your eyes. So keep on telling me those beautiful lies.
00:08:58
Heather Morgan
And I mean, really the line that says nothing's supposed to say the same. It kind of made me realize that that sometimes is true.
00:09:11
Heather Morgan
when you know it's not supposed to stay the same. And then later in the and then in the second verse, he has a line that says, forever was a promise you couldn't keep. Like he should have known forever was a promise you couldn't keep. And that felt like me.
00:09:33
Heather Morgan
And I think why it was so hard is because I felt like such a horrible person and wife and partner for feeling that way.
00:09:45
Heather Morgan
Because I didn't want to. But I started to understand that sometimes even when we don't want to feel a certain way,
00:09:55
Heather Morgan
We do. We do. And I love that music allows us to kind of trigger those emotions that we're working so hard to suppress because it connects to us so loudly when we really listen. And I feel like in life, you really listen when you're supposed to hear what's being said.
00:10:24
Heather Morgan
That's why oftentimes the wisest words can be told to a group of people, but only a handful take away what really the message was because we're not always in the same place in our journey to listen to what was said.
00:10:40
Heather Morgan
It's like your ears and mind have to be open to what you're hearing. And sometimes we do such a good job of just blocking life out.
00:10:52
Heather Morgan
from being real to us.
00:10:56
Heather Morgan
And when I say that I kind of mean like, we work really hard to just believe that what we're doing is the best we could. And I'm not saying it isn't, you know, sometimes it is and and in those moments and times, but sometimes in life there becomes a point where It's no longer the best anymore. And like he says, I know everything. I think later he says, I know everything's supposed to change. And that's true. Things are meant to change and evolve. And I think that we all know that. But it's so hard for some of us to accept.
00:11:42
Heather Morgan
And so I don't know if I had just first heard that song that moment or if I'd heard it before, but it never. felt and resonated the way it did. But I'm pretty sure I didn't hear because it's an amazing song. And if I hear an amazing song, like I usually stop even if I can't relate. Exactly. So I'm pretty sure. But i I just think it's wild that it got presented into my life at the time. Because I think Tanner came out with that song like in 2019. And this is 2022. I hadn't even heard it.
00:12:15
Heather Morgan
So just saying, it was such a pivotal time. And I, the other day when I heard it, I was like, gosh, when I heard that song, I knew my entire life was going to change likely when I got back home to Utah. I knew it. And I remember listening to that song on a repeat,
00:12:41
Heather Morgan
the entire plane ride or most of the plane ride home from Oklahoma to Utah.
Playlist Announcement: Divorce and Heartbreak
00:12:50
Heather Morgan
And I do that a lot. I don't know if y'all can relate, but I just like repeat or like just really like hyper fixate on a song in a moment in time that I can relate to. But it was one of those times and and I realized that
00:13:05
Heather Morgan
Sometimes we want to be stuck in that feeling and it's almost as if I needed to so that it would help put me in the place I needed to go. And that's how I'm kind of ticking and tying music and thoughts and words to the story of our life.
00:13:28
Heather Morgan
We kind of make it, it becomes something we can relate to and then we replay it and then it becomes our situation over and over again. And that was probably one of the hardest parts about my divorce looking back. I love a good sad song. We've talked about this before. I made sad songs, my whole personality during my divorce. I can think of so, there are so many songs that are like,
00:13:55
Heather Morgan
trigger me right back to my kitchen drinking wine in Utah. Like a lot and I made a playlist I want you guys to check it out if you're listening. If you're it's on Spotify and Apple. It's called wandering the wild mess playlist. And it literally has all the songs I've mentioned on my podcast. And I just feel like if you like and most of them are country. If you like a good heartbreak sad song, there's a little bit that might make you feel happy and they're sprinkled without with throughout. It's just a good playlist to kind of go this is like what it's like to get separated and divorced. Or this is like what it feels like to enjoy the heartbreak or this is what it's like to start my life all over after heartbreak.
00:14:46
Heather Morgan
that's what kind of playlist it is for me. And I wanted to share it with you all because I love music and love just bonding through music and sharing songs with people. It just makes me so happy. So that's my um shameless plug about my playlist available for you guys to listen. I would also love any recommendations. So you know, shoot them my way. You can do that on my website or any of my socials.
00:15:14
Heather Morgan
But all right, back to the story. So here I am in Oklahoma crying over this Tanner S Ray song, just losing my mind. And I just remember so many times that I let a song take me to a place where I didn't know if I necessarily wanted to be.
00:15:37
Heather Morgan
And I remember also like I had this hiking playlist and what I would do when I was back home in Utah, my therapy was just going hiking up the mountain every like I would do it on the weekends through my divorce because again, remember and I hope like this helps you just know that it's okay to have times you're alone.
00:15:56
Heather Morgan
because I was so alone, even though I had all my friends, because they just had their own busy lives. And here I am just like this messy, divorced woman or whatever. So I was and no one would like I was just so in my feels all the time. And so I would just go hiking by myself. And I just have these playlists. And I listen to this music. And I remember I'd be like, full on like hiking up a mountain and it would just be like, Oh, and I would be like crying. Like people walk by and I just like, Hi,
00:16:24
Heather Morgan
like tear-filled eyes, like fake in a smile, like I feel like that's a perfect depiction of life when you're going through it. You're just like, still gotta move, like let's go. And then you see people and you're just like wiping the tears, waving, smiling, pretending like you're not like literally listening to the most heart-wrenching song and you're like,
00:16:47
Heather Morgan
my whole life is falling apart. And you're just kind of like, but Hey, how's it going, Bill? Oh, I mean, you don't know his name, but it's probably Bill. And you know, it's just one of those. So I feel like it was just I remember like getting down the mountain after one particular hike when it was just so clear. And I've told this before, but me and my ex were sending songs back, which I 100% do not recommend like that's to three out of 10. Maybe I just liked, you know, I did learn about that song, the Brian Martin one that ended up being part of my life. ah So for that, I guess it was a little bit worth it, but it was just really hard to hear the songs that he sent me because it told me how he felt about everything. And hearing those songs, it made me like every time I heard a song where the man was like,
00:17:46
Heather Morgan
pretty much mad about the woman for breaking his heart. Uh, it made me feel like a bad person.
00:17:56
Heather Morgan
And I guess that's kind of like the power of music and songs is that instead of someone just telling you to your face,
00:18:05
Heather Morgan
Hey, you really hurt my heart. Thanks for doing this, this, and this. Then you just hear it from them once and mostly you'll probably forget that conversation or maybe not. But every time the song comes on, you're like, oh, remember when you broke someone's heart? And then you have to feel crappy. But I'm really working on realizing that
00:18:28
Heather Morgan
I know it was the right choice, so I i'm still i stopped feeling guilty and crappy now because I know that I did the right thing for us. I know I did, and I'm getting to that place, but I realize music kind of took me there.
00:18:47
Heather Morgan
It's weird of a full circle moment to think about in our lives where you can be triggered by one song that makes you know your life's about to change. And then songs are the soundtrack of the whole dramatic event of what you have to do to change your whole life. And then you move off to music city and are exposed to music in a whole different way that you never even knew was part of a life.
Music, Bonding, and Past Relationships
00:19:15
Heather Morgan
And so I don't even know if my existence would feel the way it did without music.
00:19:23
Heather Morgan
And that's kind of beautiful itself. And then when I think about it, a lot of the amazing people I've met in my life What I bonded with them over was music. We had a soundtrack in the background of everything we did. Our time together, like even if it was short, with some of these people that mean so much to me, it was like as soon as I heard a song, it would take me back to my time with them.
00:19:50
Heather Morgan
And I'm not one for living in the past per se. I know I talk about my past a lot because there's lots of lessons that I take from it. And there's so much work that I've done on myself to really understand who I am and who I want to become and all of those things. And I think sometimes self-reflection is just a key piece of that. I feel like I like kind of dancing a little and with the past.
00:20:17
Heather Morgan
because I love to tell the story of what was. But I think there's like even more beauty and understanding that what is is even more exciting. It's just what is right now. And the song that is resonating for me right now, even though an older one of, and you know, I really am a big LL Langley fan, but she has a song called Hey Ma, I Made It.
00:20:45
Heather Morgan
And obviously she's kind of grown like grown into her fame since she wrote the song. But I feel that. um I love the idea of the song because if you think about it, you're writing it from a position of you your growth into like, hey, mom, I made it from point A to point B. And then, hey, mom, I made it literally, here I am, to that real end goal that I had. And I think all of us in life, for the most part, would just smile at the thought to say to their mother, Hey, Ma, I made it, whatever making it looks like for you.
00:21:30
Heather Morgan
And although I will say again, because I want you all to know how special you are just the way you are in this very moment in time, you don't have to be anything other than what you are already to be worthy of all the things you want from life.
Embracing the Present
00:21:44
Heather Morgan
But I know we don't get everything exactly in the timeline that we want to, we just have to continue to kind of trek up the mountain. And then there is a point in time where we do get to feel like I made it.
00:21:58
Heather Morgan
There are those moments for us, but every moment that we're living, we're making it, right? So I don't, I want you to celebrate the moments in the wind where it's small, but also realize that it's just such a beautiful piece of life where you can be one one moment here and then the next moment you're where you've always wanted to be. But I know I know that the key is just to be enjoying what you have while you have it. Because I look back to that time in Oklahoma, I look back to my wild cross country road trip alone. And I'm like, in the moment I was kind literally crying alone in motel rooms, but some of the drive. But then I like think back about it and I
00:22:56
Heather Morgan
Um, so I miss it. I literally this week was thinking like, I need another like cross, excuse me, cross country road trip. Like I want one.
00:23:10
Heather Morgan
because OK, I'll tell you one last story because it was so hilarious, but it reminded me of this. And I've been posting more on my TikTok, Utah Girl and Nash. So I'm just over the fear of all that. So if you want to kind of see me, I think it's supposed to get banned. So who knows if you're listening to this later and ticknocks like completely obsolete, then this will be kind of funny. But anyways, so.
00:23:37
Heather Morgan
I remembered when, this is how much I love music, y'all. And I'm just giving this side of my personality right now because i you guys are all my like best friends. sorry You hang out with me every week. um but i So I wanted to tell you, like when I was doing that cross-country road trip, I i went and visited my grandma in Oklahoma. So I like went out of the way to stop in Oklahoma.
00:24:04
Heather Morgan
So that was great. And then so that kind of ah allowed me to go through Texas. And I was like, I'm going to Amarillo because Amarillo by morning. Of course, I was like, I don't care. I have to relate to that song. I need to be in Amarillo so I can hear that song. I'm going to Amarillo. So I go to Amarillo. I get there.
00:24:27
Heather Morgan
yeah I didn't really know what to expect, but there wasn't a lot going on, but it was, it was great. So I Googled and it was like, you got to go to the big Texan. So I was like, I'm rolling up to the big Texan. So I put it in Google maps, get to the big Texan. Actually, I don't even know. Like it was like the biggest thing there. It was this bright yellow like building. It's got the Texas flags all over, like tons of cars in the parking lot. Like this is the spot.
00:24:52
Heather Morgan
So I roll up, park my suburban, like gonna have some dinner, go in, there's tons of people, it looks super touristy, like so cool, whatever. I sit at the bar, I'm sitting there, I don't really remember what I ordered to eat, but like something. I get some dinner, there's like it's all just guys at the bar and me, and and they're kinda chit-chatting a little. Well, I am going to the restroom before I was like done with my dinner.
00:25:20
Heather Morgan
I come back and this kind stranger had paid for my dinner. Like I asked for the check and he's like, Oh, you paid for your dinner. So I was like, Oh, so I went and I was like, Hey, thank you so much. I really appreciate that.
00:25:34
Heather Morgan
I've talked to you about this before. This is kind of new for me, because I'm not like now I'm newly single, not wearing a ring. People are like, just offering things. It's very kind. And I'm just learning to just accept it instead of be like, you don't have to do that. um It's like if people want to be kind, let them. So I'm saying thank you. And he's like, Okay, well, like, would you like like to grab a drink with me? There's like music in the back, da da da.
00:26:00
Heather Morgan
And I was like, well, in an Amarillo, I guess, you know, in my head. So I was like, OK, so he buys us a drink. We go to the back. We're listening to music. It's really cool in the back, though, because they have like games like yeah' like ah yard games type stuff like cornhole and like all these different things. And there's like real freaking cowboy country people playing music. Like these guys probably have been playing music since like the 60s, 70s. I don't know. Like they were like on it. So I'm just enjoying it. Like having a good, like I'm all look at this. I'm a real low. So we're chatting and chatting. And I think we're on the music. Oops. I think we're on the topic of music and he's like, all right, I have this idea. What if I
00:26:51
Heather Morgan
How about I book you a hotel, motel. You can pick whatever motel you want and you stay the night with me.
00:27:01
Heather Morgan
I'm like, I'm in this small Amarillo spot with like, I mean, I could, I could just imagine the great motels that were in Amarillo, but to that I politely declined.
00:27:17
Heather Morgan
And you know, he was a little persistent, but it's okay. Uh, but I left and I might've told the story again, but ah before I'm not sure, but it just kind of reminded me how like music.
00:27:33
Heather Morgan
sent me to places I didn't even know I wanted to be. But I loved it. like It was the greatest experience. And just being able to have like a life where I'm just doing things like that and meeting people. And I think I told this because I did learn so much about this man's life in such a short amount of time. And that's one of the coolest things about just doing things and going with life. And the song Amarillo by morning is the reason I even had that story to tell. All right, so I'm going to wrap this up. All that to say is that songs are like stories that we can relate to.
00:28:18
Heather Morgan
And when we keep those songs and stories in loop all the time, like I sometimes do, we feel those things and that's the story we tell ou ourselves. So as much as I love sad songs, sometimes they keep you sad.
00:28:34
Heather Morgan
So if you're doing that, maybe put on a more upbeat song. I mean, you know, bar song. That's a good one by Shaboozy. That gets you in a mood. um Also, i'm going I have something really exciting for next week's episode that I will want you to tune in for. So I'm really excited. And then I did want to also say that after this month, I'm going to move to just two episodes a month.
00:29:13
Heather Morgan
for right now, at least solo ones. As I work out all the guest things, there may be more, but I think I'll just put it on it every other day like two week cadence. I'm telling you all this so you don't get too sad yet that you won't hear from me every single week, but we can definitely connect on
Social Media and Further Connection
00:29:29
Heather Morgan
socials. Again, you can visit my website. I'll have some exciting stuff there coming next week. And then also so www dot wandering the wild mess dot com.
00:29:42
Heather Morgan
And you can follow me on my socials, Utah girl in Nash on Instagram and TikTok. And yeah, I am really thankful y'all are here. I want to just end it by saying that songs, as much as they're the story of our life, we get to write our own story. So you decide what you wanted to sound and feel and look like.
00:30:10
Heather Morgan
You're the writer of your own novel, your own script. Whatever you want to be true in your life can be.
00:30:20
Heather Morgan
So make it a good story that you get to tell. Thank you for listening to Wandering the Wild Mess with Heather Morgan. You matter.