This Is My Fight Song

I've been meaning to write something for Dean and Courtney's That's What She Said link up for weeks now, and today I'm actually sitting down to do it. The prompt is a line from Rachel Platten's Fight Song...

If I was to get very literal with you (the real meaning of literal - not the new ridiculous meaning where "literally" somehow means not literal at all), I would say my fight song for many years has been Be Wise, Be Strong, Be You. It is the song I put on repeat when I write hard things. It is the song I have sung, clung to, screamed, written out on paper when there were no other words, cried with, danced to, and shouted...

"If they shut one door then you open another
There's no telling where you'll go from here
And if they take your spirit keep your soul under cover
Make your path and just stay in the clear
So be wise, be strong, be you
There's nothing that you can't do."
- Be Wise, Be Strong, Be You - Cee Cee Michaela

I have a playlist on Spotify named "Tracie's Power Music" that is all of my fight songs. It is one of the few playlists I've taken the time to cultivate - only really great songs that are full of heart words make the cut. Songs that weave a mantle of strength around me.

"'Cause I have been where you are before
And I have felt the pain of losing who you are
And I have died so many times, but I am still alive
This is not the end of me, this is the beginning."
- I Belive - Christina Perri

What is my fight song in less literal terms? What is it that helps me to take back my life, to make me all right, to turn up my power, and make me strong? Words. Writing. This space.

"Nothing's gonna hurt you the way that words do
When they settle 'neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave."
- Brave - Sara Bareilles

If writing online is a poem that builds an incredible portrait of what it is like to be alive now - then this really is my fight song. Even thought this is the piece of me that I give to the world, it is also the piece I keep very much for myself.

"But you've gotta make your own kind of music
Sing your own special song
Make your own kind of music
Even if nobody else sings along."
- Make Your Own Kind Of Music - Mama Cass

In writing, I can be truly and honestly me in ways that aren't always so easy out there in daily conversation. I can take the time to be thoughtful. I can take chances and take flight.

"Get up and go
Take a chance and be strong
Or you could spend your whole life holding on
Don't look back; just go
Take a breath, move along
Or you could spend your whole life holding on."
- Go - Boys Like Girls

And maybe, on occasion, I can write the things that are in your heart, too.

Just like any good fight song.

What is your fight song? 

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