How Green Day's Music Helps Me in My Life With Autism

I’m in my 20s, have autism and I’ve experienced a lot of things in my life. I love rock music. I’m a big fan of the band Green Day. I hope to see them in concert one day. I admire Billie Joe Armstrong and the way he expresses his feelings when he sings Green Day’s music.

I can relate their music to my own experiences with autism. I’ll start with “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”. I’ve had to move on from some jobs and even high school, and have found some of them to be good and bad times at the same time. I think of this song as I had some good times in high school, but it ended badly. One of my jobs in a warehouse had good times but ended badly. Same thing with the job after the warehouse.

Their song “Wake Me Up When September Ends” reminds me of the time I found a long lost half-sister I never knew about. We met, but then she stopped talking to me the day after Christmas of 2011 after I thought we started to love each other as siblings. She stopped talking to me due to personal issues that weren’t my fault. I felt like she died and isn’t coming back, as she still won’t talk to me. I think of my experience as “Wake Me Up When December Ends” as it still affects me to this day. I never got over it.

The last song that relates to my experiences with autism is “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” I feel like I’ve walked alone in a lot of my experiences with autism, just as it’s sung in that song. I feel alone a lot when I go through life, as I don’t have a girlfriend and don’t always feel my friends are there.

I think many of you with autism love a musical act whose songs relate to your life experiences. Try not to let the tough times get you down. Admire your favorite artists and hold on to their words, no matter what.

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