Okay. Can I just say, "WOW!"? I mean, really, WOW!!!! Do you feel the chills, too? What a voice! I mean her soul is actually dripping out of her voice, through my speakers, pooling around ears and into my own soul and smacking me upside the head saying, "You hear me, boy?! Hold on now brother... You can make it just one more day!" Yow! Now that girl can sing!

"Hold On" By Alabama Shakes

Bless my heart, bless my soul.
I didn't think I'd make it to 22 years old.
There must be someone up above sayin',
"Come on, Brittany, you got to come on up.
You got to hold on... Hey, you got to hold on..."

So, bless my heart and bless yours, too.
I don't know where I'm gonna go
Don't know what I'm gonna do.
Well, must be somebody up above sayin',
"Come on, Brittany, you got to get back up!
You got to hold on... Hey, you got to hold on..."

"Yeah! You got to wait!
Yeah! You got to wait!"
But I don't wanna wait!
No, I don't wanna wait...

So, bless my heart
and bless my mind.
I got so much I wanna do,
I ain't got much time

So, must be somebody up above saying,
"Come on, baby girl!
You got to get back up!
You got to hold on... Yeah, you got to hold on..."

"Yeah! You got to wait!"
I don't wanna wait!
But I don't wanna wait!
No, I don't wanna wait!

You got to hold on
When the world ain't treating you good
You got to hold on
When everybody looking at you funny
You got to hold on...

Rock Therapy Lessons from This Song

My buddy Steve Hartline just shared this song with me today. It's my new fav. Here are some rocking therapeutic principles and encouragement from this great rocker of a song:

Believe in bigger/higher. "There must be someone up above sayin', "Come on, Brittany, you got to come on up. You got to hold on..." Faith isn't for the weak. It's a powerful coping strategy. Everyone gets beat down by life at times. And some more than others, too. You might be that person. Believing in something bigger than yourself, in a Higher Power per se (be that God, the universe, the source, science, family, ethics, values, principles, etc), gives us something to draw on when our own resources are depleted and when our own motivation is gone. It's like gassing up a car running on fumes. There have been many times when, quite frankly, I haven't wanted to do what's right or when I've wanted to just give in and just give up. However, my belief in what is right and my belief in a God who loves me and believes in me has helped me find "the strength beyond my own" to "keep on keepin' on." I'm grateful for that—for that boost of encouragement and tenacity when I felt neither but needed both so much.

Why should you hold on? "Hey, you got to hold on... Yeah! You got to wait! Yeah! You got to wait! But I don't wanna wait!" Well, quite frankly, it's just a smart strategy. While IN the crisis, it emotionally feels like things will never get better and that I will suffer like this FOREVER. However, most people find that in time, past the crisis, things DO get better. A few examples:

I, a stutterer who was once racked with humiliation, shame, and embarrassment and saw no way out as it only got worse, now make my living through the spoken word as a therapist and a speaker.
In a recent study for those seriously considering divorce but who didn't, five years later, 69% were glad that they didn't. And five years later only 23% of those who did get a divorce were glad they did. I have LOTS of letters from grateful clients who are SO glad they stuck it out.
A dear client of mine who was severely suicidal and furious that I had the police escort her for her safety to the psychiatric hospital for evaluation and assessment now calls me up once a year on her birthday to thank me for saving her life, which she has now found to be a happy one. Gratefully, I also have LOTS of these stories, too. So so so happy that the deeply depressed have found peace and happiness in THIS life.
Addicts who feel they'll never overcome their addiction relapse after relapse, who finally, through long perseverance of working their program, have created lives worth living... and who now mentor and guide others along that hard road.

So hold on and hang in and get through because on the other side is a stronger, wiser, and more compassionate YOU.

See more resiliency-based songs of all genres at my "Musical First Aid Kit" collection: