How Blake Shelton’s Music Helps Me Cope With My Disability
I was first introduced to country music at age 13 when I started listening to it with a friend. I’ve loved it ever since, mainly because it was different from most of the music I was used to. Before I discovered country, I mostly listened to Biggie Smalls, Salt ‘N’ Pepa and Tupac, so country music was quite a change.
I love country music because you’re often listening to a story that teaches a life lesson. The song lyrics are deep, too. But even though I love country music in general, one country artist in particular has had a great impact on my life: Blake Shelton.
Blake Shelton’s music has helped me through some of the toughest days with my disability, cerebral palsy. I’ve had to go to many different specialists to find the answers to all my health-related issues, which always gets emotional and can be heartbreaking. But once I put on my headphones and hear the beginning to my favorite album, “Blake Shelton,” I escape from my reality and enter a world of happiness.
I hear the lyrics blast through my headphones:
“She left without leavin’ a number
Said she needed to clear her mind
He figured she’d gone back to Austin
‘Cause she talked about it all the time
It was almost a year before she called him up
Three rings and an answering machine is what she got.”
When I hear the song, all my muscles relax and the massive pain through the left side of my body becomes less intense. I hear the story of a boy who didn’t give up on the girl of his dreams and remember I shouldn’t give up either, despite my struggles.
Blake Shelton’s music has helped me keep my head up when doctors don’t give me the best news about my health. Those realities of living with a medical condition make me feel trapped sometimes, but as soon as I turn on Blake Shelton, he takes me to a happier place.
If you’re struggling in life, turn on your favorite music. It just might take away your pain, just like it does for me.
Image via Wikimedia Commons/DoD News
Tylia L. Flores is a twenty-eight-year-old born with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Despite her condition that affects her mobility, she does not allow it to affect her will and determination to make a difference in the world. Through her many life challenges and obstacles, she discovered her passion for writing. Tylia’s goal in life is to share her stories with the world. In doing so, she hopes to help others with disabilities realize that they, too, have the potential to make their dreams come true. Tylia is not only an author. She’s a radio show personality and a disability activist. Tylia has written about disability-related topics for Yahoo Life, Your Tango, The Mighty, ReadUnwritten.com, Words Between Coasts Project, Wednesday, Spilwords, and Goble Thrive. Worth Living Among her other appearances are Disability on the Spectrum and Why I was Afraid of Sexuality. Previously, Tylia was nominated to Diversabilities list of the most influential Disability Impacts of 2022. Additionally, Tylia holds the position of chairman in the creative director role for the North American Association Of Cerebral Palsy Advocates. She serves as a mentor for the Disability EmpowHer Network as well. Tylia also works for Write It Up Publishing as a sensitivity reader focusing on disability representation. Tylia has also been involved in many movie press releases for Samuel Goldwyn Films Come as you are Piece of me which was the short film directed and written by award winning filmmaker Bruna Cabral as well as the film adaptation of the book Calvin can’t fly by Jenifer Burnes Tylia is also a keynote speaker at 2020’s Cerebral Palsy Awareness conference. She has also been a guest speaker at Northeastern State University Broken Arrow where she talks to college students about disability and inclusion in education. She has also been a guest speaker at Plantation Middle School, where she discussed inclusion and disability with classmates. Tylia is fully certified in Education for All: Disability, Diversity, and Inclusion through Cape Town University. She’s also certified in Understanding Diversity and Inclusion through Purdue University. She’s also certified in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. Tylia hosts the Stomping On cerebral Palsy radio show with DJ Ty on Asheville FM with DJ Mouse during the Come On In the Kitchen segment once a month she also helps the staff behind the scenes, help bring awareness to disability awareness and inclusion within the radio broadcasting industry .
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