Happy Pt. 1: To Those Who’ve Suffered Loss

Loss has affected many of us this past year…including my family and I.

I see you. I see your pain and I feel your loss too.

Loss doesn’t care who you are, what your status is, how successful you are, who you know, or how happy or UNHAPPY you are. Loss affects all of us. Honestly, this is true even outside the year of 2020. And I truly think that the scariest part for us as a human race is that most of the time, the loss we suffer is completely out of our control. We don’t wish for it or pray for it. We don’t DESERVE it. And yet….here we are, stuck in the middle of darkness. Sometimes we’re stuck in a darkness so deep that it makes you wonder how in the world you’re going to crawl out of it. But emerging from it IS something that is in our control.

Music is therapy to me and makes me grounded and happy to learn, play, and sing. The chord progressions, the admirable vocals, or the magical runs on the saxophone in a jazz song can move mountains for me. For me, the cherry on top is the lyrics. I have always been a “words” person. I feel words are very powerful and incredibly necessary for impeccable communication and understanding. This makes sense to me why I love to write and blog! But lyrics to a song (to me) paint a picture to the listener and the listener can interpret, feel, process, and get lost in the message. The song that I chose to learn and sing for this post helped pull me out of a darkness. And if you find yourself in one, it’s my hope that it might do the same for you.

My hope:

There are tough days. And there are days that you don’t feel that you’re doing enough or that you are enough. But I want you to know that you are enough. You are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for. And if you won’t give it to yourself, I want to give you the permission that it’s ok to be happy or find happiness even in loss or grieving. It’s possible to have both. You have the choice to rise, and shine. You have the choice to do something that brings you great joy, love, and happiness. And to use that to help you towards your healing. Get up, don’t let the darkness win.

What is something that you can do that brings you happiness?…..

Do it!

You can view the original song by one of my favorite artists Cassadee Pope here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIMvFAPq4Ts