The 2023 A-to-Z blogging challenge theme is resilience. Resilience is the ability to get back on our feet and keep going after life knocks us down and kicks sand in our faces. Resilience is how the psyche survives and copes, but resilience doesn’t necessarily wear a cape of positivity.
The 26 songs I’ve chosen show us, musically, what resilience looks (sounds?) like. I’ll offer a reflection of the resilience in each song. The songs are alphabetical by the artist’s first name or the group’s name, except for M, O, U, and X.
E is for Elton John and I’m Still Standing.
Elton John and Bernie Taupin wrote I’m Still Standing. Elton released it as a single on July 3, 1983.
I’m Still Standing is the deep sigh of relief after walking away from a toxic and one-sided relationship. It’s the freedom of overcoming the addiction-obsession of either believing you can’t live without that person …did you think this fool could never win... or being brainwashed into believing you can’t …the threats you made were meant to cut me down.
Either way, you did it. You broke free of the manipulation …look at me, I’m a-coming back again.
This song is the patting yourself on the back for having survived the nasty breakup. In the process, you discovered self-confidence and self-empowerment by facing and overcoming the adversity of that confrontation. You stood up for yourself, and you came out alive – emotionally, physically, and psychologically – on the other side. Don’t you know I’m still standin’ better than I ever did?
You have a renewed outlook on life that makes you feel reborn like a little kid. You’re going on with your life, because you got a taste of love in a simple way, which opened your eyes to what love really is.
You’re done with the gaslighting, the abuse, the façade of caring that hides the other person’s cold, lonely light that shines from them. You finally see that person’s true self, which is a clown in a circus of false love .
You’re so over the other person, in fact, that you don’t spend much time thinking about them. The person just fades away while you’re pickin’ up the pieces of your life without you on my mind.
By the end of the song, you feel deep satisfaction for telling the other person to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine, so to speak.
I’m a true survivor. This is the essence of resilience.
I’m Still Standing is a ‘resilience anthem’.
I will share seven resilience anthems this month, of which I’m Still Standing is the first.
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
writing through history one romance upon a time
*Image by Pexels
Until next time,
Kaye Spencer
writing through history one romance upon a time
A great Elton John song.
It sure is. He is a musical treasure.
I love this song! It also has a very fun music video to go with it. The best way to celebrate getting out of a terrible relationship.
Great selection for letter E.
I love the music video, too, but I made the decision to stay away from the music videos when possible, since many ‘official’ music videos don’t do the song justice. However, the official video for this song is one of my very favorite. 😉
I love Elton John. Bernie Taupin is one of the best songwriters of the last 50 or so years and what a team they have been. Besides I’m Still Standing, another Elton John song of resilience I like is Someone Saved My Life Tonight.
I heartily agree about Bernie Taupin’s music-writing talents, and I simply adore Elton John. Someone Saved My Life Tonight is absolutely a resilience song. There were so many of his to choose from.
It is a song that proclaims I have survived and one of my favourites 😍
This is one of my favorite Elton John songs, too. Another one I really like is “Sad Songs (Say So Much)”. Telling someone I’m still standing after that person expected us to fail…falter…give up… is so satisfying. Also, telling ourselves we’re still standing after we’ve gone through a hard time is important.
Yes it does proclaim survival. It’s such a great song.