While young I did not like myself. I always wished I was someone else. Since that would not have been possible I started daydreaming about how I would have liked to be in the future. Some songs helped me imagining it, and I am proud to say that today I feel like those songs. I feel like I realised the dream little me had about the person I’d become. These are songs about life, resilience, chance taking and mistakes, and they are uplifting because they are hopeful.

1. This by Darius Rucker

This is a song about how all the missed chances had brought the singer where he is today, and he couldn’t be happier that he missed those. While other songs focus on the opportunities taken, this one focuses on the feelings of sadness and defeat that missing an opportunity gives us, but that is OK, because in the end we will arrive where we want to be also because of those missed opportunities. Even though it did not turn out like the singer planned, it is OK, because he is lucky to be where he is. A friend of mine made me listen to this to shoote my pain and feel hopeful while I was convinced I would end up lost and without purpose in life. Nowadays when I listen to this song I remember this conversation and I think that he was right, because all I missed brought me exaclty where I wanted to be.

Here’s the song

2. This is me by Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas

Ok who did not like Camp Rock back then when Disney Channel was a thing? Among all the songs my favourite was This is me. Demi during the movie tries to find herself and what matters to her. In the end she writers and sing this song about how she found her place and how she changed from a shy girl who did not speak out to finding herself and showing it to others. While young I was always worried I would never find my purpose and what made me happy, and I thought that whatever I had to say was not interesting or good enough so I was very quiet. Today I can say I found myself. Whenever I hear this song I get moved remembering all those days spent crying over my numbness and lack of purpose. Listening to it gives me chills. Hang in there, little girl, you will find yourself.

Here’s the song

3. Get it together by India.Arie

A movie that always make me laugh is Shark Tale. I don’t know why, it just cheers me up. It always works. In the movie there’s a scene in which the protagonist feels hopeless for his future, and this song comes up to tell him that only he can decide if he wants to live or die. It is a deep song about our potential to change things and set life back on track, about forgiveness and letting it go to let ourselves feel better. And all in a kids movie. While listening to it I wished I could learn to forget too, and to today I can say I got very far in this journey of healing and letting go.

Here’s the song

4. Find yourself by Brad Paisley

During my teens I really wanted to get of my town and go abroad to experience the feeling of meeting new people and experience new people. I thought myself was there, my happiness was there. This song made me dream about it, about feeling that I was becoming someone else, to find myself meeting new friends in a brand new town. And that really happened. I am abroad, with new friends added to the old ones, and I found myself right here. Also, this song talks about meeting the one for whom you will start to live for. And, hey, I found that too.

Here’s the song

5. Lucky one by Simple Plan

This song is about the feeling that everyone else is improving and going forward but you just feel stuck behind and you wish one day you will have your shot at being better. The singer says that maybe one day he’ll be back on his feet and all this pain will be gone. And maybe it won’t be so hard to be himself and it will be easy to find where he belongs. While listening to this song in the past I felt a the pain of it, whole now, I feel like I had my shot and I finally found where I belong. This feeling is very powerful as it makes me realise that no matter how impossible it felt, I managed to get through it.

Here’s the song

Please let me know about songs you listened to to find comfort and let me know if you became what you sang.

Image credits