Do you care about having decent enough devices to enjoy it or do you just buy the cheapest pair of earbuds to silence the world around you?
I have some nice headphones and a decent enough dac/amp (subjective obviously, I tend to go for good cost/performance), to me there’s a floor I’ll want to use, cheap Sony buds were mine. If it doesn’t absolutely destroy the music (tinny, compressed, etc. Crap devices can really make things unpleasant, there are cheap buds that aren’t crap).
Do you have favorite albums or do you just hit play on a random playlist and zone out?
It’s all mood dependent, I do absolutely have favourite albums, but I often listen to a playlist of albums either my partner or I have found.
Do you ever listen to music just to enjoy it and nothing else?
Yes, definitely.
Do you talk with passion about your favorite songs/albums/artists?
All the time, my partner is also really into music so we talk about it all the time. I totally share albums and stuff to colleagues and friends, I tend to listen to a lot of different genres so have a bunch to chose from. I tend to have more favourites in terms of recent listens, some exceptions though.
Do you spend time searching for music?
Yeah, all the time. Some weekends I’ll just browse bandcamp and find albums that sound interesting to me. Totally a couple’s activity for my partner and I, very regularly share finds with each other or things that we might think the other would like. Sometimes also do playlists up of stuff we think might expand the other’s listening, different genres or styles we might have missed or glazed over.
Music is art to me, I love looking at the evolution of genres, hearing influence between genres (some genres have similar roots and cross over, but also really interesting to hear totally unique takes). I like collecting records if only for the large format, some albums have amazing art on them. I do also use music as a coping mechanism, was something I used to help handle undiagnosed ADHD for years, would always have music on to drown out surroundings.
Track everything you eat, even when you’re in a good place, keep tracking. I have ADHD so I’ve found it best to treat it like I do financial tracking, it becomes habit very quickly and apps like waistline make it super easy to enter, especially if you’re in the habit of weighing everything.
I have to minimise the smacks kept in the house, and what we do keep tends to be “better” or at least less calorie dense. I don’t deny myself cravings, but I’ll follow servings and budget for it in calories. Waistline averages out calories over a configurable period so I don’t sweat going over one day, all balances out over the long term.
Therapy helped a lot, if only to help me have a healthier relationship with food, my therapist has a lot of experience with addiction & substance abuse and food can absolutely be a drug (which is not acknowledged enough imo). Between that and getting treatment for ADHD I’ve managed to get back down to one of the lowest weights I’ve been as an adult. I’ve tried to make it a lifestyle change which I credit heavily to success as well. My partner having a health scare that forced them to review their diet also helped tbf, but we were already on that path, was just some extra push.
What you eat can help too, fibre being a big one. Make friends with legumes, add them into your cooking. I like chickpeas and lentils, will add them into a lot of dishes I cook. Use seeds too, ground flax tastes great and adds a lot of good fats, sunflower and pumpkin seeds go well in salads. I like to do meals that can serve leftovers, stuff like soups & stews are great because they don’t have a lot of active cooking (you throw stuff into a pot and let it simmer for a while). Higher quality calories are helpful, tell you that personally I’ll feel fuller longer eating some porridge with flax and fruit in the morning than the occasions I’ll grab a McMuffin or something.