We all have those moments where life feels heavier than it should, and carrying the weight of it all pushes you right to the edge.
On the evening of September 18, 2026, I was having one of those days. My thoughts weren't constructive, and my frustration reached a point where I needed an outlet.
Instead of letting that heavy energy sit there, I channeled it into something useful. That's how the song Failing With Valor was born.
Writing it wasn't straightforward. I went through various iterations before finally landing on the right version for my lyrics.
From there, I took it into my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) for further production modifications, shaping and tweaking the sound until it captured the exact mood and energy I wanted to convey.
The Split Between Inner Calm and Outer Fatigue
As I've grown older, I've noticed a shift in myself. When I was younger, my inside self and my outside self felt completely aligned.
But as life brought more challenges, my physical, outer self started to detach from my inner peace.
That widening split became the emotional core behind the pre-chorus. Even when the outside world feels chaotic, I am deeply grateful that my inner self still finds a way to hold onto calm.
Finding that inner calm doesn't mean I'm immune to stress.
It certainly doesn't mean my physical self isn't feeling the heavy exhaustion of carrying it all. As the lyrics go:
“Steadying these steps as I stumble through haze, not asking for miracles just a little less weight.”
If you've ever felt like your spirit is unshakable yet your outer self is just plain tired from fighting daily battles, please know you're not alone.
To be completely honest, I almost didn't release this track. It is deeply personal, and I usually prefer to keep my writing hopeful.
But I realized I could still be hopeful by being completely honest about how I truly feel. The truth being, I'm totally at peace on the inside - my soul is at peace; it's my outer human world that's chaotic.
I'm just looking forward to both being equal. That was my message to myself. Actually, I've been saying this to my best friend for a little too long now; inside I'm at peace, it's my outside world that feels chaotic.
I Feel This Song, and These Words Came Together As I Planned
I ultimately feel confident that I've achieved my goal with both the lyrics and the production.
How did I know? A member of my family loved it so much that they put it on continuous replay. For me, that was the ultimate tell that the raw emotion I wanted to share actually came through in this piece.
Like all of the nearly 100 songs I've recently published, this one is raw and honest (in a different way), always with a touch of hope.
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
I am approaching 100 songs written over the past year, and of all the songs I've written so far, How Do I Forgive the Mirror is currently my favorite.
Not because of the music, but because of the message behind the lyrics.
It's about something many of us understand: making mistakes, looking back at who we once were, and trying to learn to forgive ourselves.
The song is about redemption, but not the kind that comes from pretending the past never happened. It's about facing the truth, accepting that we haven't lived perfect lives, and recognizing that who we are today doesn't have to be who we were yesterday.
When I first wrote the lyrics, I realized that although the story is told through a male character, much of what he is feeling is universal. I've made mistakes in my own life, as we all have, and I understand the complicated process of looking back without allowing the past to define everything that comes next.
I deliberately chose a male country voice for this song. When I write songs with a lot of lyrics, I tend to think about singer-songwriter or country styles because both can leave room for storytelling.
With this particular song, I packed a lot of words and meaning into it. I felt a male country voice would give the story the right character and keep the lyrics at the center of the song.
That choice also helped me step outside of myself as the writer. Instead of making the song simply about my own experiences, I could tell the story through someone else and let listeners find their own connection.
At its heart, How Do I Forgive the Mirror? asks a difficult question. How do we look honestly at our past without becoming trapped there?
Maybe the answer is not to forget our mistakes or excuse them. Maybe it is to recognize what they taught us, acknowledge how far we have come, and keep moving forward.
Life doesn't give us a final grade. We keep learning. We make mistakes, we change, we try again, and sometimes we discover that the person staring back at us in the mirror is someone we can finally be proud of.
The best result of growth is looking back and not recognizing who that person you were was. It just doesn't compute today. You're unrecognizable even to yourself.
That's what this song is about. That's the message.
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How I Put My Lyrics to Music & Create the Songs and Videos
With digital music today, some people think creating a song is as simple as writing a sentence and getting a finished recording. And for those who want to create music that way, they certainly can. I don't do that.
My songs begin with original lyrics, ideas, digital production, stories, and turning those words into a song involves its own creative process.
Rather than writing a lengthy article, I thought I would answer five frequently asked questions.
I'll keep my answers as brief as I can, just to give you an overview of what goes into bringing my lyrics to life through music.
I'll include a video of different songs I've written and produced after each question, so you can see finished products.
1. Do You Write Your Own Lyrics?
Absolutely. I write every single word of the lyrics I create. To date, I have written nearly 100 different songs (I also published a book of lyrics/poems in 2019), and every word is my own. I've been writing since I was eight years old in 1968; I care about the words I choose. My lyrics are original, and I am intentional about the stories, messages, and emotions I put into them.
Digital music production can also generate lyrics, but that's not something I am interested in or do. It is certainly possible, but it's not my approach.
Quite frankly, I can often tell when lyrics have been generated automatically! To me, they lack a natural flow, rely too heavily on metaphors, or fail to carry a clear message from beginning to end.
The song I feature below is one of my personal faves I've written, for the message it tells. It's about redemption.
2. What Should I Be Aware of if I Want to Create a Song Using My Own Words
This would be an entire article on its own, but here's one of the most important things to keep in mind:
You needa commercial plan with the digital music service you use if you want to use your finished music commercially! Commercial plans are mostly, if not all, paid plans.
The commercial rights and licensing terms depend on the service and the plan you have. Read the terms.
Your own lyrics are yours. However, if you use digitally generated lyrics (which I don't), you also need to understand the terms that apply to those lyrics and the music you create.
What is commercial use? For example, if you have a YouTube channel that earns money through the YouTube Partner Program, that counts as commercial use. Releasing your music on streaming services is another example. These are just a couple of examples of commercial use. There are more!
This song speaks for itself, about empathy and acknowledging someone's challenges. I dedicate it to my friend Margaret xxoo.
3. How Difficult Is It to Create the Music for Your Songs?
For me, this is the hardest part.
I am certainly not just typing one sentence describing the sound I want and expecting a finished song!!
In my music instructions, I often specify musical details such as the notes I want the song sung in, the beats per minute, the tempo, the type of voice, the instruments I want front and center, background vocals, genre, and more! Whether I want a baritone, soprano, mezzo-soprano, or a mid-range voice, these choices matter because I have a particular sound in mind. And that sound in my head is, unfortunately, the boss!
The most frustrating part is that I can hear exactly how I want my words to sound and where I want the emphasis and phrasing to fall.
Getting a computer to understand precisely what I am looking for can be challenging. Sometimes I need to have my mouth washed out with soap! LOL. Hubby knows when I'm on that part of the process!
So, no, the music side of creating my songs is not easy for me. It can be quite intense, and I am extremely conscientious about how I want my words delivered.
I also use a DAW program on my computer that lets me work with stems (individual audio tracks, such as vocals, drums, bass, and piano, that make up a song). I have altered stems and used the program to address artifacts, which are unwanted sounds or glitches that can sometimes occur in digitally produced music.
This was written for weddings - a father-daughter dance song.
4. How Do I Create the Videos for My Songs?
You don't have to do a video. I do, to enhance the story, and it gets a better response on social media.
I have a very specific way of creating my song videos, and it's more involved than simply putting a song over a few pictures.
I generate the images I use for my videos because I want as much control over the visual content as possible. I have paid authorization to use images from various programs, but I prefer not to leave questions about licensing or ownership hanging over my work. So I rarely use those for my in-depth videos.
I want to know exactly where my images came from and avoid a mix-up that asks me to prove I can use them. That's just an added hassle I'm not interested in. So I prompt/design my images using AI.
I create each image based on the song's lyrics. Because I write story-driven lyrics, I want the visuals to help tell that story. I describe what I want the people to look like, what they are doing, the setting, the mood, and the feeling I want the image to convey. Sometimes it takes several attempts to get exactly what I have in my head.
Once I have the images I want, usually somewhere between 10 and 15 images for a song, I bring them into Canva and convert each image into a video section using "Image to Video". I adjust the timing and speed of each section to match the lyrics and the music.
I also use a paid version of CapCut to automatically generate the lyrics on the video. There was certainly a learning curve to getting the karaoke-style highlighting to look the way I wanted, especially how the words move or highlight along with the song. I eventually found a style I really like, and I now tend to use it for most of my videos.
After that, I take another step to finish the video, but that is essentially how I put the main pieces together.
The entire process can take me at least half a day, and sometimes considerably longer. I'm fairly fast, so someone else could easily spend a couple of days creating the same type of video.
For me, that time is worth it. I want the finished video to do more than simply accompany the music. I want the images and lyrics on the screen to help tell the story I wrote into the song.
This is one of my top songs (for me) on streaming, YouTube, and TikTok. People have used it for weddings, which I truly appreciate!
5. Do You Own the Copyright to Your Songs?
I am not a lawyer, and I am not giving legal advice here!!
I am simply sharing what I have learned along the way about copyright and digitally produced music. So do your own research! Copyright can get complicated, and what it means can depend on what you are doing with your work.
For example, I am registered with SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada), which is a music rights organization that collects and distributes royalties for the use of music. Copyright registration through a government copyright office is different, and copyright has its own legal meaning in that context.
When digitally assisted music is involved, the amount of human creative input can also matter. Generally, copyright protection is based on human authorship and creative contribution. In practical terms, that means the original human contributions to a digitally assisted work can matter when determining which aspects of the work may be protected. How that applies to a particular work is a legal question, and the rules surrounding digital and AI-assisted creation continue to evolve.
For me, I provide significant human creative input. I write my own lyrics, decide what I want the song to sound like, produce and modify, make creative decisions about the musical direction, and control how the finished song and video come together.
Streaming services are another part of the picture. Their requirements can differ, and music generally reaches those services through a distributor. So you need to choose a distributor and understand their terms and the do's and don'ts.
You have to go through the distributor's submission and review process before they accept your music. Is it difficult? Not necessarily. Is it time-consuming? It can be. And does it help to understand what you are doing before you start? Definitely.
There's a lot more to say about copyright, licensing, distribution, and digitally assisted music, but that's a rabbit hole I will leave for you to explore if you are interested. I am simply sharing a few of the basics here about what I have learned from doing this myself.
This song is a fun, upbeat song about turning life's lemons into lemon pie :)
Summary Conclusion:
I want to end by saying that this is by no means the end of the story. Heck, it's not even the full story!
These are only five questions, and they really just scratch the surface of what goes into my own process. To date, I've created about 100 songs, and I've spent about a year learning, researching, experimenting, and figuring out what works for me. And I'm still learning. I learn something new almost every day.
So, if you've ever wondered what actually goes on behind the scenes when I take one of my lyrics and turn it into a song and video, this is simply a glimpse into my personal process.
There's more to it, but these five questions give you a sense of what's involved.
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Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
The Story of Life began with a poem I wrote in January 2020, originally titled Living in Light. I wrote it during a deeply personal time in my life, and I published it on my YouTube channel that same month as an inspirational video poem.
At the time, I had no idea that I would eventually return to those words and turn them into a song. But the message remained meaningful to me, and years later, I felt that the poem had more to say.
The Quiet Moment That Inspired It
The poem was inspired by a quiet moment I shared with my mother during her cancer battle. We were sitting together in a room, each of us simply occupying the same space. There was no special occasion and no grand gesture. We did not need to be doing anything in particular. We were simply together.
As I sat there with her, I became very aware of how meaningful those ordinary moments can be. Sometimes, being present with someone you love is enough. There does not always have to be a conversation or an activity. Sometimes, sharing a quiet moment can become one of the memories that stays with you the longest.
Watching my mother carry such a difficult burden also changed the way I thought about hardship. I saw a quiet strength in her that stayed with me. It made me think about the parts of ourselves that we sometimes believe have been damaged by difficult experiences. Perhaps those parts are not truly broken. Perhaps they are places where new strength can develop.
What I Began to Understand About Aging
That experience also caused me to reflect on aging and the way we change throughout our lives.
As the years pass, our physical appearance changes. We see those changes when we look in the mirror, and sometimes it can be difficult to recognize the person we once were. But I have come to believe that aging has another side that cannot be seen in a reflection.
Inside, something can become lighter.
Our experiences can give us perspective. The things we have survived can teach us. And although our bodies may grow older, our hearts can become more youthful in the way they understand love, wonder, forgiveness, and what truly matters.
A Journey Toward Home
When I think about life, I often picture it as a gentle journey through the sky. We move forward through the years, gradually drifting closer to home.
Along that journey, new lives are beginning. I imagine us passing close to newborns as they enter the world, almost as though the journey connects those leaving one chapter with those just beginning theirs.
There is something beautiful about imagining that the light we have gathered during our lives does not simply disappear. We pass something of ourselves forward. The love we have given, the lessons we have learned, and the light we have carried can continue through others.
Our light does not have to become smaller as our journey progresses. It can become part of something much greater.
Learning to Trust Our Wings
The poem also became a reflection on letting go.
Life teaches us that we cannot hold on to everything forever. Sometimes we have to loosen our grip, trust ourselves, and trust where the journey is taking us.
Pain and tears can change us. They can become part of how we understand ourselves and the world around us. The difficult experiences we would never have chosen can still leave us with something meaningful.
For me, living in the light represents a new beginning. It reminds us that life continues to move forward, and that love has a way of continuing with it.
Turning the Poem Into a Song
Years after writing Living in Light, I decided to transform the poem into a song.
I wanted to preserve the heart of what I had written in 2020, so I worked from the original words and reshaped them into a musical structure. I developed the verses, pre-choruses, choruses, a new verse, a bridge, and an outro, allowing the original poem to take on a completely new form.
The result became The Story of Life.
The song carries the same message that inspired the poem, but it also reflects the years that have passed since I first wrote those words. What began as a quiet moment beside my mother eventually became a much larger reflection on life, aging, love, resilience, loss, and the journey we all take.
The Story of Life is the evolution of those original words. I returned to something I had written during one of the most meaningful quiet moments of my life and gave it a new form through music.
At its heart, the message remains the same. Love continues. Light continues. And when we have truly loved, we have truly lived.
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As autumn returns and the cooler weather settles in, my mother has been on my mind every day.
When the seasons change, my parents come front and center in my thoughts, bringing back all the things I miss about growing up.
Fall always reminds me of my mom preparing homemade pickles and beets, filling the cellar and freezer up with homemade goodies.
To honor my late mother, I decided to write her this song called Mom's Pickles and Beets. Below, you will find the story of me as a fifteen-year-old girl back in September 1975. I hope you enjoy the story below and the related song.
A Page from My Life in 1975:
September 1975 brought that familiar, sharp chill to the air, signaling the start of a brand new season. I was fifteen years old and it was all in front of me.
For me, autumn was always the absolute best time of the year, filled with the return of school routines, skating lessons, and the comforting sense that September offered a fresh start.
Coming home at the end of the day meant stepping through the front door into a warm haven. The kitchen always smelled richly of spices and a pot of homemade soup simmering steadily on the stove.
Countertops would be lined with rows of freshly packed mason jars filled with homemade pickles and beets. My usual routine was to head straight for the living room fireplace to warm my hands, just as Mom would call out from the kitchen, asking me to head down to the basement to handle the laundry basket and grab a container of fudge on the way back up.
Mornings didn't always run smoothly, of course. There were frantic days when sleep got the better of me, and I had to scramble, racing into the kitchen to plead, "Mom, can you drive me? I'm going to be late!"
With a familiar roll of her eyes and a quick, resigned nod, she would agree, usually adding with a knowing smile, "You know, I won't always be here to fix every mess."
More than five decades have slipped away since those days. Yet every time the autumn leaves begin to turn, those memories return just as vividly as ever.
The scent of her cooking, the quiet warmth of those evenings, and the lasting comfort of her presence remain woven into every part of who I am today. I miss my mother.
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What memories do fall and the changing seasons bring back for you?
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He sometimes watches her go about her day and wonders if she has
any idea how much of herself she gives to the world around her.
She is naturally giving, not because she has forgotten herself or
believes everyone else should come first, but because kindness is
simply part of who she is. She knows who she is. She takes care of
herself, yet when she moves through life, she sees beyond her own
needs. In the smallest decisions and ordinary moments, she thinks of
others. She notices what people need. She does what she can. Often
without fanfare. Often without anyone realizing how much thought she
has put into the simplest things.
And he loves her for all of it.
When they first met, she saw something in him, too.
She could see beyond the person standing in front of her. She
sensed the road he had traveled and the pain he had carried. She
didn't try to rescue him. She didn't sacrifice herself for him or
make his wounds her responsibility. She simply understood that
someone who had traveled such a difficult road might need a little
more tenderness, a little more patience, and a little extra loving
care.
So she gave it freely, simply because that was who she was.
And slowly, without either of them fully realizing it, she became
the place he had been searching for his entire life.
Home.
Not just a house. Not just a person he loved. But a feeling he had
never truly known before. When he looks at her, he sees quiet after
the noise. He sees safety after uncertainty. He sees somewhere he
belongs. He sees a life where he can finally exhale.
His life before her had not been easy. He had known pain, carried
scars, and traveled through experiences that changed him. But it is
never lost on him that, without her, he might never have understood
love the way he understands it now.
That is why he wishes he could lend her his eyes.
Just for an hour.
He wishes she could see the woman he sees, the kindness she
doesn't always notice in herself, the beauty that goes far deeper
than what can be seen, and all the quiet things she does that make
his life better. He wishes she could understand that when he looks at
her, he doesn't just see the woman he loves.
He sees his fairytale hero.
He sees the person who helped heal wounds she didn't create. The
person who erased pain simply by loving him with patience and
sincerity. The person who saw his truth and accepted him without
asking him to become someone else.
Most of all, he sees home.
And so, through this song, he gives her the only gift he knows she
truly needs to understand his heart:
His eyes.
Because if she could see herself the way he sees her, she would
finally understand the depth of his love.
"Borrow My Eyes" is
his thank you to the woman who gave him more than love; she gave him
a place in this world where he finally feels he belongs.
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And staying exactly where she was felt impossible.
For the first time in her life, she found herself standing somewhere she couldn't explain, a place between decisions, between certainty and doubt, between the person she had been and the person she might become. It was a liminal space, though she didn't have a name for it at first.
She only knew she was there.
And somehow, the fact that she couldn't figure out why, bothered her more than the place itself.
The Woman Who Thought She Knew Herself
She had spent most of her life believing she had clarity. She made decisions. She moved forward. She faced things. She had always thought of herself as brave.
Or at least, she used to be.
So why was she standing here now, unable to take the next step?
She wished someone would simply tell her what to do. Just one person. One voice. Someone who could see what she couldn't.
Someone who might reach for her hand and say, Here. This is the way. Step through this door.
But no one came.
And perhaps that was the hardest part.
She began questioning everything.
Was she afraid?
Was she protecting herself?
Had she spent years protecting everyone else, convincing herself that was courage?
Maybe she had been confused for a very long time without realizing it. Maybe she had been lost without knowing she was lost.
That thought frightened her.
Because if she had been wrong about being lost, what else had she misunderstood about herself?
She had always known one thing for certain: she was hopeful.
Hope had carried her through difficult days. Hope had given her reasons to keep going when she couldn't see what was waiting ahead.
But now even that certainty began to trouble her.
Could Hope Be Keeping Her There?
She wondered if hope could become another kind of hiding.
Perhaps she had been holding onto hope so tightly that she had forgotten to reach for anything else.
Hope that something would change.
Hope that someone would appear.
Hope that eventually, the right door would simply open.
But what if it never did?
What if she had to choose one?
Forward or backward.
Stay or leave.
Fear or courage.
The questions circled endlessly through her mind, and still she couldn't find an answer.
Then she realized something she hadn't considered before.
Maybe being brave had never meant knowing exactly where to go.
Maybe bravery wasn't certainty.
Maybe it was standing in the middle of uncertainty and taking one step anyway.
She looked ahead.
Nothing had changed. The doors were still there. The path was still unclear.
No one had come to take her hand.
But for the first time, she didn't wait for someone to show her the way.
She took a breath.
And stepped toward the door.
Not because she knew what was on the other side.
But because she finally understood that she didn't have to know.
Perhaps that was the courage she had been searching for all along.
The courage to move without answers.
The courage to become someone new.
The courage to remember the woman she used to be and finally discover the woman she could still become.
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When I look back at my own wedding day, there are so many memories etched into my heart, but one moment that didn't happen for me was a dance on the floor with my mother.
In fact, back when I got married, that wasn't nearly as common as a father-daughter dance, and it simply wasn't something I had ever heard of back then. Even though I never shared that exact experience, I completely understand why honoring this profound bond has become such a cherished trend in modern marriages.
Brides today often want to honor both parents, and creating a dedicated moment for the mother of the bride provides a gorgeous and balanced counterpart to the traditional father-daughter dance. That desire for balance and emotional completeness is what originally inspired me to create this piece.
As a writer, I have spent a lot of time crafting story lyrics for weddings, exploring the vast spectrum of family relationships. Yet, this project marked a first for me: my very first wedding dance song for a mom and her daughter.
When I sat down to write the lyrics for Mother and Daughter Forever, I knew I wanted to strip away the grand timelines. I didn't want the song to get lost listing a lifetime of achievements or speculating about where the future might lead.
Much like my mother-son wedding song, The Child, The Boy, The Man, I wanted this piece to stay entirely grounded in the present. It needed to remain a pure and quiet space where a mother simply tells her daughter how deeply and unconditionally she is loved.
Crafting Mother and Daughter Forever: A Personal Reflection
Bringing Mother and Daughter Forever to life went far beyond just penning a few lines on a page. Once the lyrics captured that exact emotional weight, I rolled up my sleeves and digitally produced the musical arrangement and video, pouring the same creative heart into it that I bring to all my storytelling.
Ultimately, this song is about telling the story of that intense and lifelong personal love a mother feels for her daughter from the very first breath to her wedding day. It completes the full emotional narrative of a daughter's life alongside her parents.
Whether you are a bride dreaming up your reception playlist, a mother looking for a way to express what is in your heart, or simply someone who appreciates the quiet power of family bonds, I hope Mother and Daughter Forever speaks to you the way it spoke to me while creating it.
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I've always enjoyed writing lyrics about life because life gives us an endless supply of stories to tell. Some are happy, some are heartbreaking, and some leave us asking questions we never thought we'd have to answer.
I like exploring all of those different parts of the human experience because no two journeys are ever the same. Sometimes my songs are about family or relationships, sometimes they're about loss or hope, and sometimes they're simply about finding the strength to keep moving forward.
Believe in My Wings came from one of those moments. It grew out of a question I think most of us have quietly asked ourselves at some point: When life gets difficult, will I be able to rise above it?
A Simple Thought That Grew Into a Story
The idea for this song began with a familiar metaphor about a bird trusting its wings instead of the branch beneath it. That image has appeared in many different forms over the years, yet its meaning has always remained powerful. Rather than writing about the saying itself, I wanted to explore what it represents on a deeper level. I wanted to imagine what that quiet confidence might look like if it became a story instead of a quotation.
Nature has a way of teaching us lessons without ever speaking a word. We can watch a bird settle onto a branch, and while we'll never truly know what it experiences, we can observe something remarkable. It doesn't appear consumed by the possibility that the branch might fail. It rests when it needs to rest, and when the time comes, it spreads its wings and flies. That simple picture has stayed with me because it reminds me how often fear encourages us to focus on what could collapse beneath us, while courage asks us to remember the strength we already possess.
Life gives each of us our own version of an unsteady branch. It might be the loss of someone we love, a health challenge, financial uncertainty, disappointment, loneliness, anxiety, or simply stepping into a future that feels completely unknown. None of us can predict every storm that will come our way. What we can choose is how we respond when those moments arrive.
Finding the Wings Within Ourselves
That became the heart of Believe in My Wings. For me, it's a song about the balance between fear and faith. There isn't one survival path that fits everyone; however, just the belief that we can overcome can help pave the road to getting there. Sometimes resilience grows through experience. Sometimes it comes from the encouragement of those who believe in us. Sometimes it appears so quietly that we don't even realize how strong we've become until we look back.
As I wrote the lyrics, I kept returning to the same thought. Every verse and every chorus seemed to ask the same question: Do I stay frozen by the storm, or do I trust that I have what it takes to move through it? That question isn't limited to one situation. It belongs to anyone facing uncertainty, whether the challenge is visible to the world or carried silently inside.
Perhaps that's why this song became so meaningful to me while I was writing it. It reminded me that our circumstances are only one part of the story. They may shake us, test us, or force us to rethink the path ahead, but they don't define what we're capable of becoming.
The branch beneath us may change without warning, but our greatest source of strength has never been the branch itself. It has always been the wings we carry within us, waiting for the moment we decide to trust them.
Thank you for listening; I really appreciate it.
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"Drageda Lyrics" on all Platforms, including Streaming Platforms**
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Life has a way of testing our endurance when we least expect it. Writing Breathing Underwater came from a place of recognizing that heavy, overwhelming feeling when the challenges of daily life start pulling you under. We all face our own storms, and the chorus speaks directly to that shared human experience. Life is rarely perfect, and in one way or another, we are all in the same boat trying to stay afloat.
Instead of focusing purely on distress, this track explores what happens when you stop the frantic struggle against the current. It is about discovering a quiet, unexpected capacity to endure simply by pausing the fight and finding your footing again.
Designing a Safe Harbor Through Sound
Finding the exact musical tone to bring these words to life proved to be the most challenging part of the entire process. Crafting a soundscape from scratch takes time and a lot of patience.
For this piece, the vision was very specific. The goal was to avoid adding extra heaviness to a world that already carries plenty of it. To achieve that balance, I intentionally created a softer, easy-listening musical vibe that acts as the opposite of the words. That juxtaposition was completely deliberate, designed to honor genuine exhaustion with deep empathy while offering a soothing atmosphere that points toward a clear, empowering sky above.
Finding Calm Amidst the Storms
At its core, this song serves as a reminder for anyone going through hard days that even when you feel deep in the middle of a struggle, you possess the inner resolve to rise again and realize there is nothing to fear.
Thank you for taking the time to read and listen. I hope this piece brings you a measure of calm amidst whatever storms you might be facing right now.
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"Drageda Lyrics" on all Platforms, including Streaming Platforms**
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
When You're Done Trying to Put Your Name in the Sand
Have you ever had one of those days, or years, where it felt like you were trying to write your name in the sand while the tide was coming in at full speed?
You keep smoothing it out, trying to make it stay, but the water just wipes it away again and again.
Although I'm a positive person, I do feel this way at times. I spent a long time thinking that if I could keep everything neat and predictable, I was winning. Not anymore. Life has a way of showing us that some things are out of our control.
I poured these thoughts into a new song called "The Life I Built From Broken Things". It has become my own little anthem, and I wanted to share it with you because we all need the reminder that we are tougher than we give ourselves credit for.
Building Something Real When You Are in a Crunch
When things fall apart, our first instinct is often to worry. We look at the mess and think, "Well, that is it. I am done." I have been there. You look at your life and see the broken floorboards and the leaks, and you feel like the whole thing is coming down.
But we don't have to fix the whole house in a single day. Recovery is often quiet and slow. It is just one band-aid at a time, as I wrote in the song. It's deciding that even though the floor has holes in it, we will still sweep up the sand. There's something beautiful about building a life out of our broken things.
It means the foundation is not just some perfect, sterile thing. It is made of experience. It is made of the times we fell down and got back up anyway.
Why a Little Stubbornness Is Actually a Good Thing
If anyone tells you that you are being too stubborn, take it as a compliment. There is a specific kind of stubbornness that I think is a superpower. It is that quiet, deep-down refusal to let the storm win.
In my song, I wrote, "I'm just too stubborn to know how to fail." People might look at your life and see the rain or the struggle. But they don't see the work you are doing when you hide your wings. They can't see the way you are reinforcing the walls in the dark, preparing for the moment you're ready to fly again.
I've learned that the one thing nobody can take away from me is me.
You're the only person who can decide when you're done. If you haven't decided you're done, then you're not failing. You're still in the middle of the project.
We Don't Have to Be Perfect to Be Strong
It is perfectly okay to have weak days. We're human. It's going to happen. We don't have to be a superhero every single day. It's okay to be tired or frustrated. It's only part of your story, not the whole story.
I believe that every tiny, incremental inch we move forward counts. Even if it is just one nail you hammer in, it's progress. The life you are building might look different than the one you started with, but it is yours.
Thanks for letting me share this with you. I hope that if you are going through a storm right now, these words give you a little bit of shelter. You've got this.
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"Drageda Lyrics" on all Platforms, including Streaming Platforms**
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
