Dave Matthews Band’s “Everyday” is one of my favorite songs, and on top of that I think it describes me fairly well. First of all, I really love Dave Matthews Band. I think the members are all amazing musicians who specialize in their instruments and can play them in a way of which I can only dream. They are incredibly talented, and yet they are so down-to-earth that they just seem like any average guys you would see on the street. The fact that they are reachable as people, makes their music reachable as well. The free-spiritedness of the band allows me – and I’m sure many other Dave Matthews fans – to connect with them and their music. There is something in their songs that is difficult to find with other artists and difficult to explain.
     Now back to the song, I love “Everyday” because every time I hear it, it makes me so happy. I cannot listen to it and not smile. Whenever I hear it I want to get up and dance, but then I have to remind myself that I am in public, and I have to settle for swaying happily in my seat instead. The lyrics are fairly simple, but the message they reiterate is so meaningful. Everyone needs love. We are social beings. Humans seek love from parents, siblings, families, spouses, friends. If love was not necessary, no one would try to foster any sort of relationship with anyone else. And the love received is what makes each day worth living. If I did not have people I love and who loved me back, I would never be able to pick myself up after falling down and I would have no one with whom I could share my joys. My life would be meaningless. Accomplishments are nothing if you have no one left to share them with, and the deepest sorrows are pains that cannot be handled alone.
     Aside from that, I love the music video. When I was younger, I used to give everyone hugs. Anyone my mom showed a remote sense of knowing, I would immediately hug. Nothing is more comforting than a loving embrace. It does not matter if you are young or old, man or woman, happy or sad, famous or anonymous, whatever your race, whatever your sexuality, the warmth of a  good hug cannot be replaced.

     “Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong accurately describes where I come from. I am a fairly optimistic person and I am easily pleased by the simple things in life. When I am having a good day, this song is exactly what I see in the world. All the life and loveliness of Earth is difficult to ignore when life is going perfectly, when there is not a care in the world. But when things take a turn for the worst, I have to remind myself just how wonderful life is, just how lucky I am to be breathing clean air, to be walking on green grass, to be looking up at a beautiful, blue sky. Not one day on this great earth should be taken for granted, and that is where I come from – a wonderful world. When I feel anxious about being in college, not knowing if I am doing anything right, I try to calm myself down and look around at the beauty of the campus. I try to remind myself that I am here for a reason, that everything will work out, and soon Bloomington will be a slice of where I am from as well.

     “Let It Be” by The Beatles is such a classic song and I feel a connection to it in the way I live my life. I have learned that there are some things in this life that I cannot control, no matter how much I wish I could. There are things in the past that I cannot change and there will be things in the future that I will not like, but I just have to roll with the punches. Even though sometimes life seems horrible and each day seems a burden, I know that eventually things will have a way of working out – that everything happens for a reason even if I cannot explain that reason at that specific moment. When I am calm, I am happy. And when I am happy, I am enjoying life. I remind myself every day that life is too short to be anything but happy.

     NEEDTOBREATHE’s “Something Beautiful” is a song that describes what it is like to have faith in some higher being. I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school all my life. When I was looking at colleges though, I knew that I wanted to go to a large public school where I could broaden my horizons. I wanted diversity and a taste of the real world. However, going to IU does not mean I am going to lose touch with my faith. I do not want to be that crazy Catholic, Jesus-freak girl, shoving my faith down others’ throats, but I will always value my faith. Faith is complete love and trust in something not visible to the eyes maybe, but always visible to the heart and soul. And that faith is one thing I can always hold onto. That faith is the one thing no one can take away from me. I struggle with certain aspects of the Catholic faith and I do not necessarily agree with everything I am taught about it, but I do believe in God and I do believe in Heaven. The thought of there being nothing when I die terrifies me. I refuse to believe that the loved ones I have lost are not in a better place and that I will not get to see them again someday. There has to be some reason for this life, and there has to be some good at the end of it. There cannot just be oblivion at the end of our lives where we cease to exist. That concept is impossible for me to grasp. Whatever is in the next life has to be something so beyond measure that all the struggles and hardships of this life dissolve into happiness and relief.