Therapy

My new favorite song is "Therapy" by Mary J. Blige.  Maybe it's because I love therapy.  Maybe it's because I love Mary J. Blige.  Maybe it's because the song and the whole album is really, really good.  Maybe it's a combination of all of it and the fact that listening to Mary J. Blige's music is like therapy. 

(Click here to watch the video.)

My first time I went to a therapist I was 21.  I was in college, my mother had been admitted to a psych ward, I was lost and needing to be heard.  Even though I was all kinds of messed up, I was really never at a loss for words.  I pictured myself having no problem telling everything to a therapist, but that wasn't the case.  My first session was filled with a lot of very uncomfortable silence.  It turns out I had to sort of ease into therapy.

I didn't know where to begin.  I didn't want to be rude.  I didn't want to not tell jokes.  

Luckily my therapist was amazing.  She patiently helped me tell my story, she didn't judge my inability to not tell bad jokes sometimes.  She helped me be okay with being vulnerable and real and messy.  And she helped me find the beauty in the mess and move on.

I am a believer in therapy.  "I think everyone should go in for a tune up every decade," I used to tell people.  I stand by that advice, but I think that people should go whenever they feel they are messed up and lost and needing to be heard.  There is no shame in it. Just like Blige sings "why would I spend the rest of my days unhappy, why would I spend the rest of this year alone, when I could go therapy."

Therapy to me can be formal like sitting with a therapist or it can be running or dancing in the kitchen or lyrics and a voice that speak to you.   I do all of it.  Mary J. Blige has been one of the voices that has helped me over the years.  

This was my road trip survival kit this past summer....notice classic Mary J. Blige CD.

Rocking with Blige's What's the 411? in college and then feeling every bit of her No More Drama album in my 20s.  Now in the first year of my 40s, I am loving Blige's new album The London Sessions.

The compilation of songs on this album are a mix of sounds that are happy and sad, light and dark, and inspirational.  Track number 10, "Pick Me Up,"  makes me want to dance and think about getting through it and getting away and sunny days and good times.  Track number two, "Doubt," makes me want to nod and say that's right when she sings "I can't keep doubting myself anymore....you think you know, but you don't know the half...I'll keep getting up, because that's what I'm going to do, I'm going to be the best me, I'm sorry if it kills you."  Um, yes!!!!

For this album, Blige collaborated with some of the UK's most popular stars--including Disclosure, Eg White, Emile Sande, Jimmy Napes, Naughty Boy, SAM ROMANS and Sam Smith.  The new collection will be released December 2 on Capitol Records.  Click here to pre-order on iTunes http://bit.ly/MJBLondon and on Amazon http://bit.ly/MJBLS.   

"The London Sessions is, number one, the bravest thing, and number two, just so honest," Sam Smith, who co-wrote lead single, "Therapy," with Blige and Eg White (Adele, Florence + The Machines, James Blunt), is quoted as saying. I couldn't agree more.

Mary J. Blige's voice makes me want to close my eyes and say and believe--in her music, in myself, in life.  It's therapy.  In every song she sings you hear her struggle and her bravery.  She is brave enough to be vulnerable and real and messy and find the beauty in all of it.

Do what you've got to do.  Go to your therapist, go for a run, dance in your kitchen and sing along with Mary J. Blige.

Life isn't going exactly like I planned it...whaaaaat? Surprised by the good, frustrated by the bad. Mostly I am pretty damn grateful that I can totally control dancing. #kitchendance #dancing #humpday

A video posted by Angela Youngblood (@jumpingwithmyfingerscrossed) on Nov 11, 2014 at 5:36am PST

Download the album on iTunes  http://bit.ly/MJBLondon  
and Amazon  http://bit.ly/MJBLS  

I participated in the Mary J Blige The London Sessions album review program as a member of One2One Network. I was provided a free album to review but all opinions are my own.