Progress

I wrote previously that once I could listen to sappy love songs or the classic "you broke my heart and now I'm all alone" songs without turning into a blubbering idiot that I would be making progress. Well, on my road trip to L.A., I am proud to say I sang along (very loudly) to any song I wanted with a dry eye =)

I am still extremely lyric conscious, however, and appreciate when I connect with a song, new or old. One thing that I really loathe about certain heartbreak songs (and I believe this was pointed out to me by my intelligent, insightful mother at a young age) is when the theme is "I need you" or "My life is over without you" or "If you leave me, I am nothing" etc. etc. Even in my state over the last few weeks when these songs came on, I didn't feel empathetic; I actually thought, "Wow, pathetic." Classic example: "How do I Live Without You?" which has been done and redone a few times. Personally, I think the song is kind of fun to belt out, but the words always bothered me deeply:

If you ever leave

Baby you would take away everything good in my life

How do I live without you? I want to know

How do I breathe without you,

If you ever go?

How do I ever, ever survive?

Without you, there'd be no sun in my sky

There would be no love in my life

There'd be no world left for me

I don't know what I would do

I'd be lost if I lost you

My response:

• EVERYTHING good in your life? You have nothing else "good" besides your boyfriend?
• If you want to know how to live & breathe without him, carefully follow these instructions: breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out...
• I suppose survival without your boyfriend could be tricky-- if you live in the jungle and he was your sole protector. But even then, you could definitely learn to use a weapon on your own. Hell, I just took up archery, give me a call and I'll teach you sometime
• Him leaving means no more Sun? Wow, you were dating the Sun? I understand your devastation now... this guy was HOT
• Your boyfriend = all the love in your life. Now this could be true... if you had no friends, family, pets, passions, hobbies, interests, or YOU didn't exist. There are a lot of things to love in this world, including yourself, first and foremost. If you only had time to love your boyfriend, it is actually a great thing that he left you. Start working on loving yourself for a change
• Boyfriend = whole world (see above)
• "I'd be lost if I lost you." Well my ex-boyfriend got me a fantastic navigation system, so I am never lost

Slightly cynical? I get that its just a song, and its supposed to be all lovey dovey and you are my world.. blah blah blah. But honestly, its pathetic. I think these songs should be banned. They promote neediness and worthlessness. There should be more songs that state: if you ever leave, baby, you are making a huge mistake because frankly, I'm phenomenal.