This is Day 19 of the Positive 100, a countdown to Rare Disease Day 2014 and an exercise in being positive despite it all.

Music is a powerful force. They say that listening to classical music while you study can help you retain what you read. And that listening to music that you associate with positive feelings can improve your mood.

I was never much of a music lover. Sure, I took piano lessons for more years than I care to admit and voice lessons for a while. I can sing not embarrassingly at karaeoke and can sight read piano music. But I never had the knack for it like my little sister did.

I am so un-musical that I can’t recognize songs I hear all the time easily. It can take me a while to place the words I know with a song or a band. (This shortcoming of mine provided great amusement to my cousin in college. Every week he would ask if I knew what a song was and who sang it. It took a year for me to catch on that they loaded the jukebox up every week with the same songs and that they were only pulling from a list of about 10 songs. Although, after that year, I did know Boston’s More than a Feeling…

These days I don’t play music, but I do make a killer pick-me-up playlist. I find that it is essential to include late 90’s pop songs, some random European artists and a little bit of whatever else might make me smile.  So, I leave you with my feel good play list.

Share the positivity on Twitter, Instagram and Google+ with the hashtag #100positivedays. Also, you can sign up to be emailed a recap each week of the challenge.