From weekly injustice to government shutdowns, it can be difficult to keep grasp of your sense of hope. In these times, I find the thing that helps me escape the dreads of daily life is music.
One piece that brings this feeling of hope to the forefront of my day is “It Gets Better (With Time)”, by The Internet.
Listening to it feels like getting a pep talk from a dear friend. It’s full of encouraging lyrics and reminders. This verse in the second part sparked a fire in my heart.
“With hope we seek true happiness
Throughout our lives with
Trials we face bring pain and sorrow, but resistance sires strength
The easy path rarely leads to what our heart truly desires
In this life we must face many a worthy challenge for the outcome to satisfy us
To win in spite of struggle implies much greater magnification
To ones honor which I value more than instant-gratification”
It reminds me that sometimes struggle is just a part of life and often leads us feeling happier afterward the difficulty has passed.
Do you have a piece of music that recently made you feel a renewed sense of hope.
Share a Youtube link of that song!
What about this music gave you that feeling of hope? Share your experience listening to it and how you carried on this feeling you gained into the next day. I’d love to hear.
Hi @madmelinoe ! Thanks for your post, sorry it took me so long to get a chance to reply. I love The Internet! My friend made a dance video that used one of their songs a few years ago, so that’s how I first heard about them. What a tender, soaring song… There’s something about the musical theory that evokes hope in the upswing of the chords and the soprano melody. Then it shifts significantly in the last 1:30… I really like it when songs undergo a twist to a new style at the end.
I guess I don’t have many songs I go to for the feeling of “hope”… I think I get that feeling from the small rewards of my belief system, my relationships, my presence, things like that.
But one sentiment I DO seek out music for is readiness. Like, getting ready to ENGAGE, as if in a zone of combat or change-making… or simply preparing to enter into something uncertain and precarious. This song energizes me in that way:
Lately I’ve been wearing out this track, an old and overlooked Massive Attack / Yasiin Bey (then Mos Def) track from the Blade 2 soundtrack, “I Against I.” I love the message about how your enemy is your equal, seeing out of eyes just like you, and yet, because of the whole circumstances surrounding that moment, you must meet in confrontation. There’s something humanizing and yet determined and fierce in this vibe. And I love how the musical theory reflects uncertainty and entanglement, especially in the middle/late part of the song. When I need to remind myself what I’m capable of before doing something requiring courage, this track can meet me there.
