⚠ Contains tiny spoilers of Gilmore Girls: A Year in The Life.
As you know, I'm watching the latest Gilmore Girls episodes on Netflix. At the end of the second chapter, I heard the most uplifting song in a long time. It was from a movie called Swing Time, a 1936 musical featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It's called "Pick yourself up". Don't you have those moments when you're watching a film or a show and the music is totally getting you?
It's funny because it also happens to Lorelai in the third episode of the revival. She listens to a song and it seems that it reflects her feelings at that particular time.
Pick Yourself Up
Anyway, as I've said, I haven't had the best year so far and it seems that I can only see the negative stuff. My life is very far from being bad, that's for sure, but I'm guilty of always looking at it from the wrong angle. I've also felt like a failure a few times and it hasn't really helped me get my confidence back. So, when I heard those little words, it totally felt like a sign, like it was written just for me, to encourage me. The lyrics go like this:
For when my chin is on the ground,
Nothing's impossible I have found,
I pick myself up,
Dust myself off,
Start all over again.
Don't lose your confidence if you slip,
Be grateful for a pleasant trip,
And pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
Work like a soul inspired,
Till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you'll be a man, my son!
Will you remember the famous men,
Who had to fall to rise again?
So take a deep breath,
Pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off,
Start all over again.
Strip Me
The problem I have when I find "THE song" is that I completely lose my mind and listen to it over and over again. It happened a few years ago when I saw the movie Morning Glory with Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton. At the very end (again!) they featured Natasha Bedingfield's "Strip Me". Here is an excerpt:
Everyday I fight for all my future somethings,
A thousand little wars I have to choose between.
I could spend a life earning things I don't need,
That's like chasing rainbows and coming home empty.
And if you strip me, strip it all away
If you strip me, what would you find?
If you strip me, strip it all away,
I'll be alright.
Take what you want, steal my pride,
Build me up or cut me down to size,
Shut me out but I'll just scream,
I'm only one voice in a million,
But you ain't taking that from me.
You ain't taking that from me.
You ain't taking that.
I don't need a microphone
To say what I've been thinking.
My heart is like a loudspeaker
that's always on eleven.
And if you strip me, strip it all awayIf you strip me, what would you find?
If you strip me, strip it all away,
I'm still the same.
Cause when it all boils down at the end of the day,
It's what you do and say that makes you who you are,
Makes you think about think about it doesn't it.
Sometimes, all it takes is one voice.
Take what you want, steal my pride,
Build me up or cut me down to size
Shut me out but I'll just scream,
I'm only one voice in a million,
But you ain't taking that from me.
You ain't taking that from me.
It's very serious. I remember my roommate was so sick of hearing the same thing on repeat because it was on practically every single time he came home! I'm the song, or the song is me, something like that, it's kind of insane. I still shiver every time I hear it.
I Don't Want To Be
If I go way back when I was a teen, my heart pounded in my chest whenever One Tree Hill was on tv. The theme song is "I don't want to be" by Gavin Degraw. I actually scream in the shower/in the car when I listen to it - on repeat. Here are my favourite parts:
I don't want to be anything other
Than what I've been trying to be lately
Part of where I'm going, is knowing where I'm coming from.
I don't want to be anything other
Than what I've been trying to be lately.
All I have to do
Is think of me and I have peace of mind.
I'm tired of looking 'round rooms
Wondering what I've got to do
Or who I'm supposed to be.
I don't want to be anything other than me.
I'm surrounded by liars everywhere I turn.
I'm surrounded by imposters everywhere I turn.
I'm surrounded by identity crises everywhere I turn.
Am I the only one who noticed?
I can't be the only one who's learned.
Than what I've been trying to be lately.
All I have to do
Is think of me and I have peace of mind.
My whole situation made from clay to stone
And now I'm telling everybody
I don't want to be
Anything other that I've been trying to be lately.
All I have to do
Is think of me and I have peace of mind.
I'm tired of looking 'round rooms,
Wondering what I've got to do
Or what I'm supposed to be.
I don't want to be anything other than me
I don't want to be, I don't want to be
I don't want to be, I don't want to be anything
Anything other than me.
ETA: I've read a nice piece on the New York Times called "How a triathlon helped America Ferrera (you know her from Ugly Betty) defy her inner critic" and it was so inspiring! Read it here>>
Her last words were just perfect:
I finally got my answer to that question: "Who do you think you are?"
I am whoever I say I am. And I am a triathlete.
photos one, two, three
