Senior Furzaan Abidi moved from place to place throughout his childhood. 

He was born in Detroit, but for the first four years of his life he lived in Canada. From there he moved back to the Detroit area for eight years and then finally to Grand Rapids from 12 years old to the present. 

This moving he has persevered through has helped Furzaan grow from a shy child to a mature teenager. 

“Over time I’ve adapted to different settings and things because I moved around quite a bit in my early childhood,” Furzaan said, “and I feel like that’s kind of made me who I am today in terms of how social I am and how good my people skills are.” 

Moving leads to meeting many new people and seeing different atmospheres. Furzaan recognized this and started to grow because of it.

Though moving around helped him in the long run, Furzaan found it challenging to make any friends as he stayed in each place for such a brief period of time.

“You never really get used to [moving],” Furzaan said. “It [was] particularly challenging for the first move for me because we moved from Canada to Troy Michigan, and then before even really getting a chance to make any long-lasting friendships I was pulled from that school system, and I moved to Grand Rapids where I had to make a bunch of new friends, and, for the first year or two, I was kind of like the odd one out because I wasn’t really sure how to make friends over here until one day I just opened up a bit more and things kind of fell into place.”

One thing that helped Furzaan meet new people and immerse himself into different parts of Michigan and Canada was the music he listened to. 

“[Music] definitely helped me with my moves,” Furzaan said. “Sometimes I was feeling frustrated and I felt like I couldn’t express myself and talk to anybody just because, I’d say, I was very antisocial for the first few years that I was in Central Woodlands [and] Grand Rapids in general. I feel like, over time, especially with writing my thoughts out and expressing myself through music, it kind of helped me become less antisocial and more open to talking to people.”

Music did help Furzaan through the times when he moved, but it also helps him now and as a general thing that is relaxing and enjoyable to him. 

“I listen to music a lot,” Furzaan said. “I just find that it relaxes me a bit, and, I mean, it’s kind of suited for any mood depending on what music you listen to.”

However, Furzaan doesn’t only listen to music. Although he hasn’t been able to do it much recently, Furzaan makes his own music as well. 

In late 2014, Furzaan was inspired by his older brother to start experimenting in the world of music. His brother was a rap artist and Furzaan’s favorite music is hip hop, so this is the genre he focuses on. 

“[Making music] kind of helps me get my thoughts out and express myself,” Furzaan said. “It’s another medium just to express myself and I feel like that’s why I gravitated towards making music, and that’s also how, in around eighth grade when I still had like no friends, people found out that I made music and that was kind of a conversation starter. From there we just became friends because we just [kept] talking.” 

Making music allowed Furzaan to find his place in Grand Rapids. He has grown into a social person and can face any move thrown at him. This was all with the help of the power of music. 

“I would actually say that both making music and listening to music had a huge [impact] on the person I am today,” Furzaan said, “because I feel like music is a very powerful thing, and it’s something—for me at least—that can make your mood. It can change your mood. It can make you sad, happy, angry. I feel like it’s a really powerful medium to express your thoughts and at the same time listen to other people’s thoughts.”