Last month, while I was recording, "Greatest Love of All," I realized that there was a synchronicity between this song and Mariah Carey's, "Hero." Towards the beginning of "Greatest Love," it mentions, "everybody's searching for a hero." The lyrics continue to emphasize the need for "someone to look up to," but that no one has yet to fulfill that need. The epiphany from all of this is, "I learn to depend on me." In a way, "Hero" becomes the sequel to this song. Once we learn to love ourselves and believe in ourselves, then we begin to recognize and appreciate the hero inside.
I want to take a moment to get nostalgic and mention my special connection to this song. Nearly 30 ago, when I was in 5th grade, my class performed the song as part of our graduation program. Special shoutout to Franklin School (Medford, MA) class of 1995 and our teacher, Mrs. Larkin! While this song was definitely a memorable one to sing at 10 years old, its message is even more profound to me now on my continued journey to self-love.
Mariah Carey released "Hero," back in 1993 on her highly successful Music Box album. There's an interesting story behind the song because she initially wrote it for Gloria Estefan to potentially sing on the soundtrack of the 1992 Dustin Hoffman film, Hero. While working on this album with Walter Afanasieff, Mariah came up with the lyrics and overall music direction for the chorus within a few hours. Walter then wrote the music, and once the song was completed, it was decided that it was too good to be given up to another singer and that Mariah should release it herself.
'Hero' is a song that's basically about looking inside yourself and being your own hero, like not always having to look for some kind of hero to come along and save you, but you can save yourself by looking inside yourself and trying to making it through any situation by really just having yourself to depend on first and look up to, like being your own role model.
Because of what I've gone through over the past few years, I've been able to recognize the hero that's always been inside of me. During that time, I experienced degrading behavior, loss, and grief. I felt overwhelmed, confused, full of sorrow, and depleted. It was like I was on auto pilot, just trying to make it through each day the best I could. While I was fortunate to have the support of family, friends, and coworkers, the decision to get up each day and keep going was mine alone. I may have struggled at first, but because I didn't give up, I was able to look within to find strength and resilience. I learned to love and nurture myself more. That involved filling my soul with encouraging music, books, and videos, and going for daily walks in nature. I was also journaling more often to help release and express my feelings. Through that process, I was inspired to write some of the deepest blog posts I've ever written. I was able to take my difficult situations and turn them into positive opportunities for healing, not only for myself, but for others who were going through similar experiences as well. In a way, I was becoming my own role model because even while going through these tough experiences, I still wanted to help and inspire others.
Here are the links to those posts:
My healing journey was the answer, and it was how I became my own hero. I replaced anxiety and sorrow with joy, peace, and hope. I proved to myself that by showing up and loving myself, I could make it through and move forward, no matter how tough the situation. This journey reminds me of one of the final scenes from, The Wizard of Oz. Remember when Glinda appears to Dorothy and reveals to her, "You've always had the power to go back to Kansas?" Dorothy and her friends were so surprised, and they asked why Glinda never told her this before. Glinda replied, "She had to learn it for herself." If Glinda had told Dorothy this at the beginning of her journey, Dorothy wouldn't have believed her because she wasn't ready to hear it. She had to "follow the yellow brick road," and through interacting with familiar characters along the way, she learned on her own that she already possessed everything she desired: she had a loving family and a beautiful understanding of how important home was, in both the physical and spiritual sense. In a similar way, by going through my experiences over the past few years, I found a sense of home and comfort within myself by saving myself. No one else could have saved me, and it had to be my journey, my positive decisions to make, my lessons to learn.
I used to believe that I needed the help of others to rescue me first before I could be empowered to rescue myself, but now I know that was never true. And so I leave you with this encouragement: be your own hero. Don't wait for others to come in and rescue you first. Swoop in and save yourself! Recognize how amazing, strong, and resilient you are and keep going! You don’t need others to recognize and tell you this first because you already know deep down how you've continued to endure, even through the toughest of situations. Now that you've come this far, you can also get excited about what's next! With the strength you've built from within, there's a solid foundation and a better understanding that anything is possible, even the dreams that have seemed impossible.
So my friends, "hold on," as the song says, because you're finding your way and discovering the hero that's you!