I’ve always loved music. It was my first passion—long before I was traveling the world diving for lionfish or writing up science news for Scientific American, I was writing songs. Notes and chords have always been my closest friends, the ones I turn to when I need to work something out. For some time now, I’ve been blending my original songs with science to produce the most personal posts I’ve ever written, including Time – and brain chemistry – heal all wounds, Biochemically, All Is Fair and Taking Einstein’s Advice.

Well, now I want to be more explicit in my sharing. I don’t have fancy blog posts to go with every song I’ve ever written; I’ve been writing songs since I was a kid. So, I’ve decided to start a new series: Musical Mondays. Surely I won’t manage to post one every Monday, but on some Mondays, I’ll post songs of mine to share with all of you. I’ll try and write a little backstory on the songs, just to give some perspective.

This is a song I wrote over a decade ago (gosh, has it really been that long?!), and have always played for myself when I need comfort. It’s probably the most honest and soul-searching I’ve ever been in a song, which is why I’ve kept it to myself for so many years. But talking to awesome people like David Kroll—hearing, firsthand, how much music can make an impact, even on us science types (neurologically!)—has got me thinking a lot about songwriting and what it means to me, and I think it’s time I shared more, especially the songs I guard most vehemently. So, enjoy.