# As part of his 30 day series on dealing with anxiety CJ Chilvers wrote about the beneficial effects of music and it being, at least, a temporary way to get "out of your own head" and act as a coping mechanism.
Music certainly isn't a cure per se, one has to continue after the music stops, but it is certainly a distraction that has the ability to numb you to problems, thoughts and emotions, a reset button.
For me, it's not necessarily about getting out of my head, rather about retreating inward into a safe space. Music becomes a shield against the sense that everyone is watching, a bubble within which to hide, almost like a child covering their eyes then declaring no one can see them. Bix articulates it perfectly as "that claustrophobic sensation of feeling like you are on public display" - an oppressive sensation that takes control even when you know it's not the case.
Whether you want to call it being distracted or "taken out of your own head" I like to think of it as getting lost within the endless space between thoughts.
Negative thought cycles are like pathways on which you can become trapped, your own fears and neuroses forcing you to continue down them as they become ever narrower with ever higher walls, penning you in until you can find no way out. Getting lost breaks down those walls, helps me find a way off the path and into the wilderness beyond where this is no thought, no expectation, just the sounds of the music.
