I’ve been a longtime listener of classical music, a genre I know nothing about. It's this ignorance that makes listening to composers of yore so enjoyable. A safe space, if you will. So foreign and distant to me and the present that it cannot be muddied by things I typically associate with music listening: nostalgia, memories—and yet, there is feeling.How is it that certain chords, certain instruments make us feel happy, sad, calm, or energized? Why does Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" make me horny? I don’t know, and therein lies its power. Music is magical in its ability to elicit feelings. I think the best music is timeless. And what speaks more to music’s power and timelessness than a millennial listening to Beethoven’s 5th while she runs on the treadmill?

Listen to this playlist in lieu of therapy, while riding your bike, on an airplane after you take a Xanax, or play it for your newborn to instantly improve their IQ.