Everyone knows that music can often cure the worst heartache or the bluest of days. Sometimes all we need is our favorite artist to sing words of encouragement and hear a lyric that speaks to what we're experiencing. I have an entire playlist of songs to listen to whenever I need a pick-me-up and while this is only a small fraction of that playlist, these songs never fail to give me up when I am hopeless.
1. Beautiful, P.O.D
"It's all gonna end someday, it's all gonna be okay. You're beautiful to me."
This is a song that I first heard when I was in seventh grade and struggling with the world around me. The entire song paints a picture of a girl who is beaten down by the people around her and by her own mind, and she's just about had it with everything that life has thrown at her. It's important to remember that things are going to get you down and you're going to go through rough times, but that doesn't mean those times are permanent. Everything comes to an end and this too shall pass. In the meantime, just remember that life is beautiful.
2. Better, Tyler Ward
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"I'll blame it on my optimistic heart. At least I'll have stories for my scars."
We all have demons in our past that we try to hide. We all have things that will forever haunt us and loom over our shoulders even if we heal, but that's not the end of everything. Just because bad things happened doesn't mean we can't move on to bigger and better things. We are more than the scars on our bodies and more than our darkest thoughts. We deserve to be able to grow into better people.
3. I'm Still Standing, Taron Egerton
"I'm still standing after this time, picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind."
Please don't yell at me, I know this song is originally performed by Elton John, but I much prefer this version of the bop. This version was featured in the animated movie "Sing" and told the story of the character Johnny, a kid reluctant to follow in the footsteps of his criminal father. This song in general, but particularly this version of the song, reminds us all that even if we come from a background we aren't proud of, we can overcome that. Maybe something bad happened to us when we were younger and we don't talk about it, but the fact that we're still here says so much about our inner strength. We've survived everything life has thrown at us, even things we throw at ourselves, and that is why it is so important to remember we are still standing despite it all.
4. Long Live the Kids, We Are The In Crowd
"So hang on, be strong, long live the kids in us all."
An old teacher of mine used to say that kids are amazingly resilient. They often don't pay attention to pain just so that they can keep playing and their only worry in life is where their next juicebox is. Kids don't have much suffering in their lives, and I know a lot of us sometimes wish we could be kids again just so that we can be carefree again. We don't have to be kids to be happy though. Life is stressful but the deadline will pass and the project will get turned in. Sometimes we have to take time for ourselves and just relax. We have to connect to that kid that lives inside of us and be free.
5. One More Light, Linkin Park
"Who cares if one more light goes out? Well I do."
If you ever feel like you're alone in life, I promise you're not. You impact someone's life way more than you ever thought you could and they'd notice if you weren't there. There is someone who cares about you and you may not believe they do but they do. Someone will care if your light goes out.
Life can be rough sometimes, we all know that. Sometimes it can be a little too overwhelming. During these times, one of the best things to do is to just sit back and let music soothe our soul. After all, when words fail, music speaks.
