Press Play on a Better Day

There was a season of my life when mornings felt heavy. Not dramatic, not catastrophic — just heavy, in the particular way that's difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't lived inside it.

If you've been postpartum, you may already know the feeling. You are grateful and you are depleted, both at once, all the time. You're trying to find yourself in a life that changed shape overnight. The days smear together. Sleep becomes a rumor. Your body doesn't quite feel like your own anymore, and even small tasks take on a strange new weight.

I wasn't looking for a life-changing solution during that stretch. I wasn't after a productivity hack or a grand reinvention. I just wanted to feel a little more like myself again.

What I found was a playlist. And, improbably, it changed everything.

The morning mix that saved my mornings

One ordinary day, I decided to gather up all the songs that made me feel happy. Not the trendy ones. Not the ones I thought I was supposed to like. Just the songs that made me smile — the ones that reminded me life was still beautiful, that made me want to move, that quietly insisted things might turn out all right.

I called it Lili's Morning Mix.

That was the whole of it. No elaborate ritual, no expensive program, nothing to optimize. Every morning, while I brushed my teeth and washed my face and made breakfast and waited for the coffee, I pressed play. And little by little, so gradually I almost didn't notice, my mornings began to change.

The power of a soundtrack

It's remarkable how fast music can move a mood — before the coffee's even ready, before the to-do list opens its mouth, before the day's worries have found their seats. The right song can remind you, in the space of a chorus, that you're alive, that you're capable, that today might actually turn out to be a good one.

Some of the songs on that playlist simply refused to let me stay glum. "Best Day of My Life" by American Authors and Rayelle's "Gonna Be a Good Day" set an almost stubborn optimism. Sia's "Unstoppable" handed me a spine on the mornings I needed one. Jonathan Roy's "Beautiful Day" and Zara Larsson's "Lush Life" carried a lightness I couldn't manufacture on my own. And of course the old reliables — Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and Pharrell's "Happy" — the songs practically engineered to lift a person off the floor. Each one carried a message I needed to hear. Not because life was perfect. Because life was still worth showing up for.

The mix has kept growing in the years since — it's some thirty songs now, nearly two hours of it, with Bill Withers and Queen and Avicii and a hundred other moods folded in — but those first few were always its beating heart.

The reason it works

As it happens, there's a reason music can move us so quickly. Researchers have found that it can trigger the release of dopamine, one of the brain's feel-good chemicals — nudging our mood, easing stress, sharpening focus, and lending us a little motivation we didn't have a moment before. Music doesn't only entertain us. It changes us.

You already know this, even if you've never named it. A film without its score feels flat. A workout without music feels harder. A long drive without a soundtrack feels longer. Music creates a kind of emotional momentum — and momentum is exactly what's in shortest supply on the mornings when simply beginning feels like the hardest part.

Music as self-care

When people picture self-care, they tend to imagine bubble baths and massages and spa days. Those are lovely. But sometimes self-care is far quieter than that. Sometimes it's just building an environment that supports the version of yourself you're trying to become.

For me, music became part of that environment. The playlist turned into a signal — a small daily transition. The moment I pressed play, some part of my brain understood: we're starting the day now. Not surviving it. Starting it — with intention, with a little energy, with the door left open to possibility.

The mood we practice

One thing that season taught me is that happiness isn't only something that happens to us. Sometimes it's something we practice.

That doesn't mean bulldozing past hard feelings or pretending everything is fine when it plainly isn't. It means deliberately building small moments that hold us up. The songs on my playlist never erased a difficult day. They didn't fix sleep deprivation or dissolve stress. What they gave me was a better starting point — and a better starting point, most days, is enough.

Because when you begin the morning even ten percent lighter, you make slightly better choices all the way down the line. You move a little more. You smile a little more. You find a little more patience for the people you love. Those small margins compound, quietly, into something that starts to feel like resilience.

Building your own "Better Day" playlist

If you're moving through a hard season — or you'd simply like a little more brightness in your mornings — here's what I'd tell you:

Choose songs that make you feel something. Not what everyone else loves, not what an algorithm nudges at you. The ones that genuinely lift your chest.

Chase energy, not sophistication. Your playlist doesn't need to be clever or curated to impress anyone. It only needs to make you feel good.

Attach it to something you already do. Play it while the coffee brews, while you're getting dressed, while you walk the dog. Pairing music with an existing habit is what makes it stick.

Let it evolve. Add new songs, retire the ones that have stopped landing. A good playlist grows and changes right alongside you.

Start before you feel like it. This is the whole secret. Don't wait until you're in a good mood to press play. Use the music to help build one.

Press play on a better day

Looking back, it feels almost absurd that something as small as a playlist could matter so much. But maybe that's the lesson hiding in it. We tend to believe big transformations demand big solutions — and sometimes they don't. Sometimes they begin with one small choice, repeated daily. A short walk. A line in a journal. A morning stretch. Or pressing play on a handful of songs that remind you who you are.

My Morning Mix never changed my circumstances. It changed how I walked into them. And that, it turned out, made all the difference.

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Your challenge: Today, build your own Better Day playlist. Ten songs that make you smile — ten that carry a good memory, or make you feel strong, or hopeful, or simply alive. Then tomorrow morning, before you reach for your phone, before the inbox, before the scroll, press play. See what happens. You might be surprised how much a few songs can bend the whole direction of a day. And if you'd like a head start, you're welcome to borrow mine — Lili's Morning Mix is right here on Spotify.

And tell me — what's the one song that puts you in a better mood the instant it comes on? I'm always hunting for new music. Join my newsletter and send me your favorite feel-good song; let's build the ultimate community playlist together. 🎵