Breathe - The Story Behind the Song

I have a story behind all my songs - Where I was when I wrote it? What I was thinking? How I was feeling? What emotion I was trying to convey?..........so of course there's a story behind my new track 'Breathe' Ha!

So Breathe is all about overcoming adversity and breaking free of the hold that fear and life's challenges can sometimes throw at you. I used to suffer badly from Claustrophobia up until a few years ago. Being in enclosed spaces would sometimes set me off in panic attacks - this meant travelling on the London underground or being on an airplane could be a nightmare experiences for me.

I knew it was all in my head but it didn't stop me feeling the way I did. I was sure people would think I was absolutely nuts for feeling this way so I kept it to myself and suffered in silence for years. Have you ever struggled with situations in life where you feel you're fighting an uphill battle, you're all alone and you can't see a way out? Well that's the story of verse 1 of 'Breathe' in a nutshell.


Verse 2 focuses on the fact that we've been living life at 1,000,000,000 miles an hour for ages and then suddenly the Corona pandemic hits and almost everything suddenly grinds to a screeching halt. The pandemic has been tough for many people and my heart goes out to those who have been hit hard. That said one good thing that the lockdown has done is that it's forced many of us to slow down, reflect, take the time to be more present and appreciate life and the people around us. 


Life can be so much more meaningful and fuller if we take this more relaxed approach to life. You only live once and when it's over it's not the size of your house, car, money in the bank that'll truly matter. Does this strike a chord with you? Or is this too much deep thinking? 

 

Anyway on to the bridge: Yay! This is my absolute favourite part of 'Breathe'. It's about the joy of breaking free of fear and the lies your mind can sometimes feed on to take you off track. I have to say in my case, it wasn't like I had this moment when suddenly everything became ok in my life (in reference to the Claustrophobia experience), but I realised that I had to keep moving forward and not let the negative stuff put my life on hold. It was about 'feeling the fear but doing it anyway' as they say......and I guess that's what faith is about. Faith is not the absence of fear, it's about not letting fear, life's challenges (insert your issue here), stop you from living. It's knowing that no matter whatever difficult stuff you're going through, you're never alone. God is with you every step of the way and somehow you're going to make it - even if it doesn't look or feel like it.

 

So I snuck in a 3rd verse after the bridge which you don't find in many contemporary songs these days but I just had so much to say! 2 verses and bridge just didn't cut it!!! Also I think it just added that extra touch to raise our eyes up a level. Verse 3 is about us elevating ourselves to do better and be better. I believe we all have a purpose for why we've been put on this earth so let's strive to make every day count and be a force for good wherever we are. As the song says 'Let's join forces and break down those walls that hold us back from being the best of us' (paraphrased)


So what's the conclusion of the matter? What's this song ultimately about? 
Well I think the chorus sums it up best: Break free of those things that have held you back in life. Through faith and love let's tear up the old rule book and let the new, better way take it's place. Take a deep, deep breath in, then breathe out and go start living and being the truly special person you were created to be!!

Hope this inspires someone out there!

Click below to enjoy the music video with the lyrics or hop on over to my home page where all the options to stream/download the track on Spotify, iTunes etc is available.

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