You have permission to sing

I know there’s a certain amount of embarrassment that people feel when I tell them to try singing. Everyone is worried they’ll be judged – that someone will put their fingers in their ears and tell them to stop. So many people think they can’t sing. But guess what? You can! It doesn’t matter whether you are young or old, whether you have a high or a low voice, or if you can hit notes pitch perfect – you can open your mouth and make a sound. And by singing, you can feel joy. So, regardless of whether you think of yourself as a singer or not, I am giving you the permission to sing. Do it! Try it. You will feel better.

First, I want you to try to take away your fear of singing. It gets in the way of so much. Imagine right now that you’re not scared to sing. How do I do this? Well, I think that any piece of music was written just for me to perform. I pretend that no one is there or listening – sometimes I close my eyes to help with that – and then I open my mouth and let it out. Try it for yourself. I promise, the joy you will feel is truly magical.

A final, fun added benefit of singing is that it helps with snoring. Now snoring can be a bit of a joy sapper, especially if your partner happens to do it and keeps you up all night… so imagine the joy that singing could bring if it not only made you happier in the day, but also at night! Yep, that kinda joy makes me smile hugely. In short, we should all sing more.

Singing in public

Something really rather special happened when I was travelling on the tube recently.

I was standing up midway through the train and a young man was listening to some music through his headphones and humming loudly. For some reason, there seems to be an unwritten rule about making a noise on public transport, where people often think that they’ll bother others if they do it. But no one minded, and I watched as more and more people looked up and smiled. When he looked up, he saw us all smiling and started singing the words out loud. It was unmistakably Bon Jovi’s hit ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’. Slowly, I joined in with him and then others joined in too and he then stood up and we all started singing together. We all sang at the top of our lungs, and when it was over we cheered and clapped and smiled at each other. This wasn’t a pre-arranged flash mob, it was one man and his voice bringing everyone together and spreading joy. Everyone was smiling afterwards. So the next time you’re listening to some music that means a lot to you, why not share it with others by singing it out loud?