We all have favorite musicians and songs, tunes that stick with us for years or even decades. There are songs that feel timeless to us, that seem to be relevant to every single chapter of our lives – songs that speak to our souls and feel like part of our own personal soundtracks.
Back in 1998, my high school boyfriend introduced me to one of his favorite bands, Leftover Salmon. In case you’re not familiar with them, they are one of those groups that simply does not squarely fit into a specific musical genre. They effortlessly blend a multitude of styles, from rock and bluegrass, to folk, Cajun, and blues.
Without a doubt, their song “Breakin’ Thru” is one of my all-time favorite songs from any artist. Debuting on their album The Nashville Sessions, this song’s optimistic lyrics and energetic bluegrass melody have been lifting me up and making me feel alive for literally two whole decades.
I have passionately belted this song from the driver’s seat of my car a thousand times. I’ve hummed it in my head on airplanes. I’ve beamed as I listened to it while I bombed down the Colorado Trail on my mountain bike. It’s been my personal anthem over and over again.
Just about every line of this song holds meaning for me, but by far the one that has stood out year after year is this one:
you only get one chance to make it happen in this life
there’s a whole lot more than just trying to survive
This has pretty much been my life philosophy since I had the consciousness to realize it. Even when I was a teenager, I could see people around me just going through the motions, not stopping to wonder what would elevate their life from average to amazing.
I knew from a very young age that I wanted my life to be anything but average. I had no idea what would unfold for me – I couldn’t even imagine all the things that I would do and who I would become when this song first came out. But I knew for sure that I was going to do everything I could to make my life wildly happy and fulfilling.
“Breakin’ Thru”
Written by Drew Emmitt
It’s been a long journey
It’s been a long long time
Holding on tight
on a long hard climb
breaking down walls
all along the way
better make it in this world
is what I hope they’ll sayNow I can see the tide slowly turning
while fires of yesterday
are slowly burning
and it feels like
we’re finally breakin’ through now
all of these dreams are coming true somehowwhen it seemed like we were never gonna make through the night
somewhere in the darkness I could see a guiding light
from a place deep down inside a vision came to me
burning like the sunrise over the deep blue seayou only get one chance to make it happen in this life
there’s a whole lot more than just trying to survive
and it seems like
we’re finally breakin’ through now
all of these dreams are really coming true somehowbreakin’ thru
breakin’ thru now
breakin’ thruas I watch these circles start to come around
and the thunder in the distance makes a mournful sound
careful what you wish for
you may never be the same
running through the wilderness while the moonlight calls your namewell I’m finally right back where I belong
feeling right where there can be no wrong
and it feels like
we’re finally breakin’ through now
all of these dreams are really coming true somehowbreakin’ thru
breakin’ thru now
breakin’ thru
I could probably write an essay on each individual verse of this song and what it means to me. Even in my darkest moments, I held the vision that my dreams were coming true and that I was in the process of building my dream life. And each time I overcame a challenging season of my life, I felt like I was breaking through to the next level, opening up to more possibility and awesomeness.
“Breakin’ Thru” is not only my reminder of what I want my life to be, but it’s what I want for you, too. Whether or not you are a fan of this type of music, I hope that the lyrics resonate with you as well.
Chances are that if you’re reading this, you also believe there’s much more to life than just getting through the days, months, and years. But are you truly making your happiness your #1 priority?
I believe with 100% certainty that we were put here to be happy and to experience all that life has to offer. I believe that the more we thrive as individuals, the more we collectively lift the world up to a more peaceful, beautiful, healthy place. And I believe that the first step in doing this is to become conscious that we are responsible for our own happiness, and that we can create our dream lives.
While I think that the majority of the Western world has been conditioned to be unaware of our ability to create our own amazing realities, I also believe that we are starting to wake up. We are starting to realize that there are ways we’re living that aren’t working and aren’t healthy. And I think there is a deep knowingness that there is a better way.
In an hour when there is still so much darkness, when there are days we can’t make sense of the bad things in the world, I choose to believe in the potential of the human race. I choose to believe that we can collectively make our reality something so amazing, we can’t even fully imagine it right now.
Choose to be the visionary of your reality – for your own life, and for the world. We have so much more power to create our reality than we think we do, and that potential gives me so much hope.