Undefeated

Do certain times of the year remind you of particular songs? That’s so true for me, especially around spring and summer. I hear a song and start to reminisce about the time of my life when that song or artist was really significant for me.

I get hooked on a particular kind of music (currently country, thanks to my boyfriend) and I’ll put whatever I was listening to on the shelf for a while. A couple of days ago, I decided to bust out my tunes that were on hold for a while and came across the song that got me through last summer.

Let me briefly explain last summer: It was the first summer in the first house I’ve ever bought, I was playing on my company’s softball team, my kickboxing gym had just opened, I was dating (unsuccessfully, for the most part), and knee deep in the most challenging work project I had been assigned so far. It was a pretty good mix of good and bad.

The dating woes and work stress really started to wear on me and I was feeling pretty shitty about myself. But, it was summer, which meant that my mom and I were beginning our summer concert series – this amazing tradition I have with my mom where we go to concerts in the area (bands we like – we’re not well off enough to do just any), and we don’t leave without the concert shirt. (By the way, this summer concert series is going to be AMAZING!)

We kicked off the summer with Plain White T’s, Daughtry, and Goo Goo Dolls. Daughtry was on their Baptism tour, so I had to check out the new album. One of their most underplayed, underappreciated songs changed my whole attitude for the summer: Undefeated.

Swing left, swing right
Bruised and black-eyed, half alive
Bleeding, choking
Bent not broken inside

And in this world of compromise
I hit every curb, every red light
Trying to keep both hands on the wheel
But through it all I’m…

Still undefeated
With my back against the ropes
Still undefeated
You can knock me down with body blows
But you cannot break my hope

I listened to this song every day, often multiple times every day, to help keep my spirits up as I went through the roller coaster that was my summer. All in all, it was one of the best summers of my life. But there were a lot of times when I needed my pep-talk to get me through. This song helped me do that, and it still does.

Experience it for yourself: