Why is it one song can change your mood completely? The feeling music gives you can bring you back to such a specific time in your life. It truly is incredible how often it can do so.

There is that song that gives you flutters. The song that makes you cry. The song that makes you want to dance. Of course there is that song that gives you goosebumps all up and down your arms and makes your entire heart glow. Music is incredible.

Why is it that a smell can bring you back to such a specific point in your life?

You could be walking down a street, in some vague city you have never been to before and a smell will bring back such a vivid memory. You can’t even fathom how your brain made the connection. There is the specific smell that makes you miss home. The smell that makes you need a hug from your mom.

The smell of some bakery on the streets of an Italian city that makes you wish you were at your grandma’s house on a Saturday morning eating homemade caramel rolls with your family.

It’s incredible how a particular scent or sound can bring up all of these different emotions but no one warns you how much it can heal you as well.

These senses may bring up the past but also have a tendency to make the present not too bad. Being reminded of the smell of your dad’s pillow as you live away from home could be the perfect amount of comfort for a stressful college day. Or listening to a sad song could be exactly what you need to get over that heartbreak from this weekend.

Being away from home and learning to live on your own is not an easy feat. It’s the simple things that make it so easy.

So go buy that candle or stand outside the bakery. Drive around on the backroads and listen to music that makes you feel something. Listen to your favorite song on vinyl so the slight crackle from the record player gives you goosebumps and makes your heart flutter.

Yes, college is hard and you are supposed to be living on your own and preparing for the real world. But it’s okay to remind yourself of home sometimes.