12 Mar 18: Beyond - Leon Bridges

Song: Beyond

Artist: Leon Bridges

Album (Year): Good Thing (2018)

Notable Lyric: I'm scared to death that she might be it, that the love is real, that the shoe might fit.

Leon Bridges has recently blessed our ears with a marvellous and soulful album, Good Thing. The 10-track piece of art is peppered with wonderfully crafted songs that you listen to 3 times over before snapping out of the melodic trance.

Between the uncontrollable head-bobbing induced by Bad Bad News and the contagious finger-snapping of If It Feels Good, it was tough to pick which track would be my #SOTD. The versatility of the album means it has already made strong headway to carving itself into my Top 5 Albums of 2018. Without me realising, Beyond etched its way into my playlist of "songs stuck in your head" and has been awarded this post after being played it on repeat about 6 times in a row!

Oh I do enjoy discovering a new love song! A tiny bit of me is looking forward to my next long car or train journey where I can put this song on loop while staring out the window. Letting go of the reigns of my imagination and allowing it to run off to build vivid and detailed scenarios with my made-up love interest. For the sake of keeping things interesting I may throw in a plot twist to predictably overcome just like in every single RomCom ever made. Ever.

Having not been in a relationship for about 4 years a lot of these scenarios have been limited to my imagination. On the plus side, there are a lot of ideas stored up in the pipeline for when the next one comes along.

It wasn't until very recently that I shifted my romantic focus from looking for someone because of "the idea of a relationship" to ensuring that I'm in a mentally suitable place with myself before entertaining the idea of a relationship. What really resonates with me in the song is the hesitation to go all in because of the risk of it going wrong / the fear of commitment. I think that in romantic relationships people get out as a defensive mechanism to protect themselves from potential pain from being hurt. That fear of the pain, at least in my case, stems from insecurities and a sense of inadequacy. In turn, portraying those thoughts and feelings onto the other person by thinking that they aren't "good enough to be the one for you" only results in at least one - if not both - of you hurt.

This mindset isn't helped by the constant exposure to alternatives and could-have-been's. I personally feel that I've let myself fall victim to the "grass-is-greener" mindset. The fact that on dating apps like Tinder and Bumble you are literally a swipe away from the "next" person as soon as there is any sign of things getting difficult is too much of an easy way out. If you didn't try then you didn't fail, amiright?? It must have been a lot easier back when you only had a choice of about 10 people in your village!

"Do you think I'm being foolish if I don't rush in?"

On the other side of the coin there is that spark! You begin to entertain the fairy-tale idea of how perfect the honeymoon phase is in classic millennial tradition: endless sharing of Instagram memes; breaking records of Snapchat streaks; and tagging in Facebook posts of inside jokes (that's when you know it's real).

Soon enough this person becomes the main priority of your life and the headlining act of your daydreaming. Whatever you do, you want to do with them. Whatever you see, you want to show them. Whatever song you hear reminds you of them. Everything you experience you can't think of anyone else you'd rather share it with than them. The love just might be real and the shoe just might fit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it I really appreciate how this song addresses the thought process of taking the jump. The thought of the leap is absolutely terrifying but the reward of it paying off means that on the next long train journey you already have someone to make those imaginary stories into a reality.

I hope you enjoy the song as much as I have!

With regards to being afraid of taking chances, I want to leave you with this famous quote by author Marianne Williamson:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.