Welcome to this weeks Flow Feature! This week’s Feature is on Jessica!

Jessica first discovered Florence + The Machine in 2011 after a friend lent her a copy of Lungs. Jessica didn’t think any more of the album for another six months, leaving it to sit in a large pile of other albums that she had been meaning to listen to. It wasn’t until her parents began to fight that she finally picked it up again. Her parents began fighting every night, gradually getting louder and more violent. Jessica hated every word of it, retreating to her bedroom and locking the door to avoid getting caught in the middle. She tried reading and using the internet, but she couldn’t drown out the yelling below.

Around the middle of the year Jessica began to start playing through the pile of albums. By then Lungs had made its way down to the end of the pile. She played the albums louder and louder, discovering incredible artists and perfect albums. She had no idea what was waiting for her at the bottom of the pile. The night that she found Lungs was a particularly bad night, and she knew whatever she played was going to have to be loud. And that’s when she found what immediately became her favourite song, ‘Dog Days Are Over’. From the word go she was hooked. The drumming rang through her ears and straight to her heart like nothing that she had ever felt before. Jessica began playing the album every night, it became her only outlet from her frustrating life at home.

Eventually, just before Ceremonials was released, her parents decided to separate. If she hadn’t found that album, Jessica doesn’t know how she would have made it through that time. Though the divorce was tough too Jessica made it through with not only Lungs, but with Ceremonials as well. Jessica is so grateful to the band for showing her that she can make it through these tough times, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel. She found her way to be happy in the darkness, and made so many friends to walk with now that she is in the light.

Thank you Jessica for sharing your story! We’re so glad that you were able to find Florence + The Machine at the right time in your life!

We hope you enjoyed this weeks Flow Feature! Until next time…
 
Inspiring Flows Xxx

Welcome to this weeks Flow Feature! What a huge week for us all with the brand new Florence + The Machine song ‘Over The Love’ being released far earlier than any of us had expected. What a brilliant song, and for what looks to be a fantastic adaptation of the story. This weeks Flow Feature is on Jenna!

Jenna first discovered Florence + The Machine in 2010 after the re-release of ‘Dog Days Are Over’. From the minute she heard this song she was hooked. She spent days and days dancing around the living room to the point of exhaustion, completely obsessed by this beautiful, uplifting song. It was almost two months before she pried herself away from the track and had a listen to the rest of the album, and boy was she mad at herself for waiting so long. It was heaven, wrapped up in the form of this stunning red-head. 

Before she knew it Jenna was running around town trying to find every record by the band, and every magazine that had so much as a small mention of the band. The magazine covers have become Jenna’s prized possessions. Before discovering the band Jenna had never put any thought into the clothes she wore,
relying on a steady flow of jeans and plain shirts in her cupboards. Florence Welch changed all that. Jenna was blown away at the sheer magnificence of the outfits that Florence wore. Clothing that she would have either walked past without a thought, or even insulted openly, somehow Florence turned them into masterpieces. They were like Florence’s own form of artwork (other than her music). Jenna loved everything that woman wore, and made sure she covered her walls and floors with pictures of her favourite outfits. 

Around the start of the Ceremonials Era Jenna began to design her own clothing. Since then she has designed hundreds of outfits, using Florence as her muse for every one. Jenna finally found something that she was both talented at and passionate about. The difficulty came when Jenna told her parents that
this was where she wanted to take her life and build her career. Her parents were both journalists and had been leading Jenna on the same path for her whole life. When Jenna started to approach the end of her schooling they had begun contacting old friends and professors to make sure Jenna got into the best
journalism course around. When Jenna told them her plans they were not impressed to say the least.

Months of arguments followed, nights of yelling and crying every week. The only two things that helped Jenna get through those times were ‘Lungs’ and ‘Ceremonials’. Every night she would listen to both albums through, using them as her power source, her strength to get through the next day and keep fighting for what she wanted to do.

After a few weeks of silence Jenna’s mother finally came home and slipped a brochure under her bedroom door. The brochure was an application for a design course starting the following week. Jenna signed up right away and was finally able to start studying what she wanted. Since then her parents have slowly started to get used to the idea and even appreciate many of the designs that Jenna has brought home. Though their relationship still needs a lot of work they are all finally on the right path. 

Thank you Jenna for sharing your story! We are so proud of you for not giving up on your dream, and so glad that you were able to realise it through Florence + The Machine and their beautiful front woman. We wish you the best of luck with your career!

We hope you enjoyed this weeks Flow Feature on Jenna! Though it can be hard sometimes none of you should ever give up on your dreams. Hopefully if you need it you will all be able to find your strength like Jenna did in Florence + The Machine. Happy listening to our new favourite track. Until next time…

Inspiring Flows Xxx

Welcome to this weeks Flow Feature! Yet another week has passed by so quickly and we get ever closer to a brand new track by Florence + The Machine. While you all desperately try to contain your excitement have a read of this week’s Flow Feature on an anonymous Flow.

Her story starts a long time before she discovered Florence + The Machine, back in the early years of her schooling when she began walking alone down the long road that le her to where she is today. She started out her schooling with a large group of close friends, or at least as close as friends are at that age, but after a simple misunderstanding she was cruelly excluded from the group.  What at the time it seemed small and
unimportant soon grew to be bigger than Ben Hur, and was the stepping stone to many years of loneliness. The classroom and the playground became unbearable. Every day the torment from classmates worsened and she felt more and more alone. The library became her retreat. At lunchtimes she was able to wander off into worlds unlike anything in her dreams. Hogwarts became her home and Narnia her kingdom. She travelled through Middle Earth and fought in great battles in every world she went. But at the end of that half hour she always had to return to the real world.

This pattern continued well into high school, and though she did end up making a small group of friends, the damage was already done. She had lost the ability trust those around her and never let anyone close enough to do any true harm. As she and her classmates grew up the bullying lessened, but what self-esteem she had left slowly depleted. Of course by mid high school began the dating era, where if you didn’t have a boyfriend you were shunned from the crowd. Even if messing around with boys had been anywhere in her priority list, her trust issues and low self-esteem made this an impossible thought. And so she went back to her place among the bookshelves and dreamed of the day that she would truly belong.

As she entered the final years of her schooling, she shocked herself by falling for one of her closest friends. He wasn’t the most handsome or athletic type, he was intelligent and full of life, or so she thought. She truly believed that she was finally on the right track. She knew what she wanted, and though it took a long time to say, she finally told him how she felt. The relief in that split second after she said the words was so freeing, and so quickly crushed by the next moments that followed. She had planned hundreds of reactions in her mind, some happy, many unhappy, but few that were downright cruel. The only thing he could think to do was laugh. The look of shock and amusement in his face will stay with her forever. She had finally opened up to someone just to have it thrown back in her face, to have her hopes crushed in less than a
second. If she hadn’t already, that was the final moment where she lost her faith in people.

She continued with her studies and tried her best to fill her time with any distractions she could find. She ended up filling her time with so much that she barely had time to feel sorry for herself during the day. The
problems came at night, when she would lie in the dark and feel lonelier than ever, the cold hands of her low self-esteem and depression wrapping its hands around her.

It was in her final year of school that she discovered Florence + The Machine. By chance she overheard a friend playing the song ‘Cosmic Love’. She demanded to know the name of the song and whatever god had created it. She spent the whole of lunch searching videos on YouTube, finding every song released by the band and researching every member. As soon as school finished she ran off to get a copy of ‘Lungs’. She then spent the rest of the night wrapped in a blanket on the floor of her room listening to the most beautiful
music she had ever heard in her life. There were no words to describe the sound, the music and the incredible vocals, and no words that could capture the emotions that they created in her heart. For the first night in as long as she could remember, she didn’t feel alone. She wasn’t plagued by the awful weight in
her stomach that was with her every other night. She felt as if she were no longer alone, the only hand that was holding her belonged to the stunning red haired woman on the cover of the album. 

From then on her life revolved around the band. She spent every free moment listening to the music, researching the band or tracking down Flows around the world. She finally began to make great friends that accepted her into their groups with no questions asked. Though she has only ever spoken to Flows through various social media she feels closer to them than any friends she made in her town. Within a few months she met hundreds of Flows and made more friends than she had in her entire schooling. Her nights became clearer and carefree. When the weight of loneliness threatened to re-emerge she simply hit the play button and every shadow was swept away by the light that Florence + The Machine brought to her life.

Through one album Florence + The Machine restored her faith in people. Though she still has a long way to go before she can completely trust other people, she is closer than she has been in the last decade. 

Thank you to the anonymous Flow for sharing your story! We are so glad that you discovered this magnificent band and their faithful followers. We hope that they all continue to help you throughout your life whenever you need them.

We hope you enjoyed this weeks Flow Feature! If you’ve ever considered sharing your story know that we would be honoured to hear it and share it with the Flow community! Email us or submit through our website today! And to all of you, don’t forget to follow us on all of our social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and our website. 
 
Inspiring Flows Xxx

Welcome to this weeks Flow Feature! We know you must all be having a wonderful week with the announcement of a brand new song as part of the soundtrack for The Great Gatsby! This weeks Flow Feature is on Sandi D. 

Sandi spent many of her years in primary school with her head in a book, desperately trying to find a world to escape from the constant bullying from her fellow students. She spent her days lost in the realm of Middle Earth or Hogwarts, the only places where she felt safe from the torment. While her books gave her somewhere to escape the bullies, she could still never escape from herself.

Sandi gradually became more and more depressed, and felt she had nowhere to turn for help. While she was good at reading she had never exceled in any of her studies and began feeling more and more useless. Her parents had no idea what to do with her, and sent her to therapists who were more interested in giving meditation techniques than listening to what she had to say. Sandi became more and more detached. Some days she would never make it to school, finding a patch of shade in the nearby park where she could read. 

It was in 2010 that she first heard the band and the instrument that would change her life. Sandi was searching on YouTube and happened to come across a band called Florence + The Machine performing live on Letterman.  Her mother had never been a big music fan and her father was only interested in rock or heavy metal. Sandi had never heard anything like this band before, and she had certainly never heard the beautiful sound of a harp. 

Sandi was mesmerized for the rest of the performance. The sound was incredible, and the instrument itself was perfect. Sandi knew straight away that she wanted to learn to play. After a lot of convincing and extra chores her parents finally agreed to pay for private lessons. Sandi has been playing the harp for a bit over a year now.  It’s been one of the most challenging things she ever tried. Having no background in music at all learning to read the sheet music has been the toughest part of all. But Sandi refuses to give up. She has already come a long way, and she finally feels like she has something to offer the world, and something that she can do with her life.

Learning to play the harp also opened up a whole social network for Sandi, through her school and music lessons. Sandi has finally made a strong group of friends, even some Flows! Recently at a school concert Sandi finally took up the courage to play a Florence + The Machine song with a few friends. They performed ‘Drumming Song’ (acoustic) in front of the whole school, and even though they all made a lot of mistakes they still received the loudest applause of the whole day.

Sandi hopes that someday soon, when she has enough money behind her, she can finally see the band perform live, and hopefully meet Tom Monger in person. She is so grateful to every member of the band for opening a new world for her, but this time one within her reality.

Thank you Sandi for sharing your inspiring story! We wish you the best with learning to play the harp and fingers crossed you can one day meet your favourite band and your inspiration! 

We hope you all enjoyed this weeks Flow Feature! We’re always after some new stories to share, we would LOVE to hear yours next! Contact us through our email or website today! Until next time… 

Inspiring Flows Xxx