Let’s get down to one of the most conventional interview questions “How do you deal with stress?”. Actually, I find it uncomfortable to deal with the “Why did you leave your previous company?” question which sounds to me not much more than “Why did you break up with your ex?”. Not necessary at all.
Life is not always rainbows and butterflies. After her sweet Europe vacation, Dorayaki got so overwhelming with her job. So various factors cause me to get truly stressful; say it client complaints, new briefings, new training sessions and credit card billings (oops, off track, it stresses me though). But the hardest one is I have become a part of the closed process in which like a Domino effect, I fail to do one mission, it negatively affects the others, slowing down the entire universe as well. I feel like being buried alive. While I am just a short girl with an average height of 1.57 m, pressure is too big to handle. At times, I think breaking down to cry is the only thing I can do. As we have it “Difficulties break men but make others”, if I do not want to go down the path of a loser, I need to get rid of my vulnerability and carry on what I need to do. I need to stay cool.
How to do that?
“Download these songs and put your headphone on”
Stay calm, my dear loyal readers! I still remember my promise that my blog may be shifting partly to movie and travelling in my previous blog posts; not to mention that I just got back from a wonderful Europe trip that you have ever longed to read what I had been through there. I do not mean to cheat you guy with a post seemingly indicating life-hack tips but in fact another music post in disguise. But think about that. Rather than a post about me running 1000 meters from Gate 40 to Gate 17 in Frankfurt airport in less than 5 minutes and that made my menstrual cycle go crazy, the one about songs that Dorayaki has been listening to lately when she is stressed is without a doubt more useful.
But I will not let you down. In every song, I leave my tips on how to deal with stress.
Cannot wait to share with my dearest readers now.
Of course, I have no problem if you take this post as “what songs have been on Dorayaki’s iPod lately?”
#4. Issues – Julia Michaels
Fortunately I get a strong sense of music from Dad. That genetic ability helps me remember the song’s rhymth twice or three times listening, once sometimes even though I do not know how to play any instruments. I knew this song several months ago and my impression about it was almost blank. There is nothing special about this song that drew my attention at the first place until several weeks ago when my managers started to assign me some little technical tasks as first fundamental steps for beginners. Actually, in IT world, we do not call it “issues”, we call it “bugs”, but anyways, it means “flaws”. Right after I got the list of “issues” that need to be fixed, I started to sing “I got issues, you got them too. So give them all to me and then I give mine to you”; of course, with a low volume.
No one is perfect and Julia Michaels’s Pop Rock song is all about couples who have their own issues but are still able to keep their love going on and walk through issues.
These technical tasks are obviously huge obstacles to me and I have not been trained on that before. When it just started off, it was a nightmare in real life. My heart jumps out of my chest when receiving issue list but Julia Michaels’ hit is like an “Expecto Patronum” to me. It quite eases the nerves in my brain and keeps my spirit up. Now none of tasks matter to me. Why? I got issues, but you got them too.
Tips: Relax and take your issues openly.
#3. Stolen Dance – Milky Chance
This song proves that only a guy on his chair playing the guitar has a power to make your body move as much as EDM. “Stolen Dance” of the German duo is mysteriously beautiful with contribution of rusty vocal, acoustic guitar rhythm and debatable lyrics. Why reading the lyrics led me to think it is about a forbidden love? In my opinion, it is the story of a couple who are separated by “them” (the girl’s family). The guy wants the girl back and to have a dance with her – basically, a guy missing his loved one and feeling without her. There is nothing special about that, but what hits me hard is this line:
“I hope they did not get your mind
Your heart is too strong anyway”
Is it me or sometimes we are just particularly fond of a part rather than the whole song itself? These lines are special to me because it reminds me of a past event that went down in history of my life. At the age of 25 years old, I hit my first mid-life crisis and thought I would never recover. I still recall how I felt back then. Imagine one day you wake up and everything you have once had just slips out of your hand. The terror you are facing makes you feel like being drown in the ocean. The only thing you can hold on to is faith in yourself. Regardless of what people say, your faith leads your way in the end. Oops, you may think why I sound like same old clichés taken straight from teen movies in 2000s Hilary Duff starred in? I once thought like that but once you have got through it, you have ideas how those words are precious.
Tips: Have faith in yourself.
#2. With you – Beasts with no name
Have you ever felt so bored that even a shitty horror movie film like “Wish upon” is still able to entertain you? With holey plot, the 2017 American film is to me a more disappointed version of “Final destination” I, however, admittedly like songs featured in the film, and Beasts with no name’s “With you” is one of those. Brilliant lyrics, smooth vocal and perfect arrangement, the Indie pop song is so good that I needed to purchase it on Itunes immediately. The song just comes in time when I am quite into Indie music.
Indie music is shortened for “Independent music” which has something to do with “DIY” ethic (Do it yourself). With indie music, artists freely express their own colour in music without being framed in defined music style. Indie music bands will have to do everything on their own from music production to promotion. It sounds tough as we easily see that if they have a major label, it will increase the likelihood of greater success, but some still want to go down the Indie music path as it offers more freedom to be creative.
Perhaps it is why I get inspired by “creativity” that Beasts with no name delivers in “With you”. I am not a professional graphic designer but a part of my job more or less gets involved with designing things in which I have to apply creativity to make final photos and banners for clients’ websites. Their “I’ll wait up with you I’ll stay up with you I’ll wake up with you” gives me so much relief. Pressures can be taken into many forms and pressure to meet deadlines is one of the worst nightmares. It messes up your head, blocks your creativity, making you unable to think through. Sometimes you think it is more important to meet the deadline first that you submit final two-bit products to clients.
Take your time. I guess your clients will be less happy if they receive low quality products from you even though you send them on time. But I do not mean that you keep them waiting for two or three days; otherwise, you may receive complaints from them.
Tips: Be more creative.
#1. I touch myself – Divinyls
“I don’t want anybody else
When I think about you, I touch myself”
Needless to say, you know what the song is about – about the business of you and your hand. Stay calm, loyal readers. I never say that I jerk off to have a stress-free mind. Without a doubt, with sexually provocative lyrics, “I touch myself” – released in Divinyls’ self-titled album – sparked controversy in the music industry at the time and yet it did not stop the song from landing top positions in international music charts. I actually have that one “chemistry” with the song after a few times listening to “I don’t want anybody else”, I was able to sing it well.
The Australian band’s 90s hit is apparently a beautiful song. Why I say that when it directs to a subject that people would feel uncomfortable discussing? Chrissy Amphlett, Divinyls’ lead vocal, died at 53 after a long time battling with breast cancer. “I touch myself” project, upon Chrissy’s dying wish, was founded to raise the awareness of breast cancer for women. Just because of that message, “I touch myself” is more than just a masturbatory song to me, but rather self-appreciation. With that in mind, I love myself more listening to the song. No matter how busy I may be, I never skip my meals, always remember to order milk teas twice a week and use lubricant eye drops (my mom would cry her eyes out finding it out, she technically begs me to use it for the sake of my eyes :P)
Tip: Do not forget to love yourself.
Any tips you want to share? Leave them in comment fields.
Thank for reading *Bow head*
