This is me – picking myself up by my bootstraps.

Whenever I get in my car of late my CD player goes on the fritz and I wind up being forced to listen to the radio (not XM – but good ole fashioned free radio).  Some days I hit it lucky and get some of my favorite songs, like Rush’s “Free Will” or “Spirit of the Radio”, possibly even hearing anything by Tool – one of my favorite groups, but mostly I’ve been hitting songs I generally don’t care for in styles I heretofor had said rather unkind things about.  Where I have gotten lucky is hearing the song “The Climb” and, not so fortunately, this has happened A LOT.

This definitely goes under the category of songs I don’t usually hunt down and styles I abhor don’t care for, but the lyrics have moved me and inspired me over this last week.  I don’t know exactly what it is, perhaps it’s just an overwhelming amount of stress piled on top of some vaguely interpreted disappointments others have in regards to me, but I needed a pick me up – a staunch reminder of why I’m taking the path I am with both career and family.  Quite unusual of me:  I offer to you the below videos/songs and a quote that have very much aided in my own reaffirmation this week.  I hope you find something good in them as well.

And, perhaps strangely, I find great comfort in this quote by Nietzsche:

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

What do you do as a pick me up?  Do you listen to your favorite songs cranked up high?  Do you dance around the living room?  Sing at the top of your lungs?