A Journey Through Pain, Healing, and Living: my story told through music

Every now and then I have shared parts of my difficult journey through marriage, divorce, and co-parenting on this blog. I have always been amazed and gratified to see the response to these posts- going through this kind of experience is often an extremely isolating experience, and if sharing my experience can help one person feel they are not alone, it is definitely worth it. Today I wanted to share some more of my journey in the best way I know: through music.

This post has been written in my head for a few months now. It is difficult to explain the emotional journey that I've been through in words, but over the years I've come across different songs that speak to where I was/am. Today I want to share with you, in chronological order, the songs that have really connected to my emotional experience over the last several years. I have found this to be one of the most effective ways of sharing my experience with others, and I hope that others going through difficult periods in their life will find comfort and connection somewhere in this list.

Before I do, though, a few important notes:

1. As with any emotional journey, this is certainly not a straight trajectory. Although I am presenting the songs below in the order in which I most connected with them, there were and are times when I went back and forth between various emotional stages. 
2. I'm not saying that each song is a perfect match to how I was / am feeling in my own experience. Obviously each situation is unique. However the overall message and feeling in each song was definitely something I deeply connected to and felt expressed where I was. 

With that, I offer you my journey, told through music.