Music, Mental Health, and the Courage to Change
Jeremy Hannah
Co-Founder, Coach & Global Talent Solutions Leader
World Mental Health Day 2025
One of my favorite things in the entire worl is music. I need it on at all times around my house, car, at my desk working, walking, etc. Music is an outlet for me. It grounds me. It helps me work through mentally and emotionally challenging times in my life, and it helps me think more clearly. I say this as context to share that one of the first times I ever really thought about doing some sort of creative writing, writing like this blog, was actually quite some time ago. I don’t know if this is just me, but most days I wake up in the morning with a song in my head. The song was often just something I listened to the previous day, but on many occasions it is something that I cannot pinpoint how it got in my head or why it is there.
It makes me think a lot about what my sub-conscious is trying to tell me by the song that is in my head. I try to be self-reflective and really think about what conscious or sub-conscious feelings I might be having, and why is it that the only way my brain knows how to get it out is through this song?
Similarly, I can get obsessively compelled to listen to a song over and over and over again. Sometimes it’s just because it is new and interesting, but often it’s a song I know well. What is it about that song or the lyrics that is speaking directly to something deep down inside of me?
I have shared the challenges that I have had, particularly over the past 5 years, with my mental health. To this day, I manage my mental health on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. Last year, I tried journaling these thoughts and emotions to track my progress and reflect on my own evolution. I affectionately called this my “Morning Radio” because I often used music to get it out and find some level of clarity in all the gray.
In honor of World Mental Health Day (October 10, 2025), I have gone into the archives and dusted off one of these journal entries from early on in my healing journey, slightly updating it having almost 18 months of life experience and perspective that I can add to it. One thing I learned along my healing journey was that the more I spoke to people, the less alone in these emotions I felt. I don’t know if my truth will resonate with anyone, but if it reaches even one person navigating mental health challenges, being a little vulnerable and uncomfortable putting this into the world will be more than worth it.
At the time I wrote this, I was still confused and unclear how to express all the twisted spaghetti of emotions and anxiety that had knotted up inside my head, and a song very aptly called “Can’t Get It Out,” began to hit me in a different way. As I often did, it was helpful to break down what the lyrics surfaced for me, as they give me words when I am at a loss for them. Lyrics can hit me literally, and they can hit me conceptually. This song is a bit of both.
So here is a selection of lyrics from the song that helped me start to speak about how I was feeling at the time:
“As we glide over whatever
We know to be over forever
I really hope the shame is less
But, I guess that that’s just depression
No sense in fighting it now
You had me caught in your headlights
You were running me down”
As I have said, when I started my sabbatical in 2024 I was at a point in my life that was mentally and emotionally challenging for me. It was extremely stressful, and for a few years prior I had struggled with depression and anxiety. My wife often told me that she wasn’t sure who I was anymore, which I was very ashamed of. I knew it was me, but the situation professionally that I was in made it almost impossible to pull myself out – even with the help of medication and therapy. Like a deer in headlights, I had kind of just frozen in time, without much ability or energy to fight the things that were hurting me so deeply. I just let it run me down.
Early in my career, I considered myself creative. I felt like an innovator in my field and out in front of what was happening in my profession. The mental state I was in had me going through the motions—I was not encouraged to be creative in my job, quite the opposite, and this made it hard for me to find inspiration on my own. I stopped being curious, I stopped learning and I was just getting by”hanging around.”
To the people closest to me, I put on a happy face and acted like everything was alright so I wouldn’t have to answer too many questions. Inside, however, this anxiety was always there, like a thorn stuck in my side, and for a long time it wouldn’t go away no matter what I did.
“I thought I was a creator
I’m here just hanging around…
…I wanna tell you we’re alright
Want to erase all your doubt
I’ve got this thorn dug in deeply
Sometimes, I can’t get it out”
“ ‘Cause I don’t wanna surrender
Or lose your face in the crowd
I finally found all my courage
It was buried under the house
Not just a manic depressive
Toting around my own cloud
I’ve got a positive message
Sometimes, I can’t get it out“
First, let me put out there that I have never been diagnosed as being Bipolar (I recognize that the term “manic depressive” used in the lyric is antiquated and pejorative), and I respect anyone who is navigating through the challenges they face because of it. That said, in my mind this is the point in the song where the voice shifts from one of hopelessness to one of strength, saying to the world, “I know I seem like a downer, but I am not just this one thing. I have lots of positive things I want to put into the world, but I need time to find my own way to get it out there.”
For me, this is the same breaking point that I got to—do I surrender, or stand up and fight for my own mental health. I chose the latter.
I had lost and would have continued to risk losing the people that I love most if I didn’t make a change. With the strength of my wife at my side, and the support of a good therapist, I realized that my courage to do something about this was always there, buried. I realized that I have so much more to offer the world than just the anxiety that I felt was holding me down and hung over me everyday like a dark cloud. I left my job and set out on an adventure to find my curiosity, find inspiration and find myself.
I will be hones, my own insecurities have kept me from posting some of starting Viante Talent Solutions, and sharing my perspectives on careers, leadership and growth. Some of my deepest fears are rejection and judgement, and my anxiety has so often driven me to avoid putting myself into positions where people might reject/judge me, especially over the past few years when my confidence has been at its lowest.
Viante and our clients have helped me once again tap into my curiosity. With every person I partner with on their own journey through growth and change, I find confidence. Coaching has given me a way of communicating my unique perspective. I feel so passionate about what Valerie and I are creating here, and although putting ourselves out there and starting a new business is scary, I have a positive message that I want to get out.
Taking the first step is often the most difficult. We are here for anyone needing a partner navigating the ups and downs of work, career and leadership. Schedule a free discovery call today to explore if we are the right partner for you.
