Hope Still Sings: My Fall 2025 Playlist for Healing and Renewal
In my Four Pillars model—Psychiatry, Therapy, Family, and Faith Community—I’ve come to see that healing is both balance and collaboration. These pillars form a living toolbox that I return to again and again, and inside it, music has always been one of the most faithful tools. It steadies my mind, lifts my spirit, and keeps my heart open when the world feels heavy. Through melody and rhythm, I remember that even with bipolar disorder and the weight of stigma, hope still sings.
As I write this, I’m soaring above the clouds, listening to the playlist that has become my mantra over the last several weeks. Each song has guided my heart toward peace, reminding me of where I’ve been and who I’m still becoming. I’m bound for Guatemala City, where I’ll meet my in-laws for the first time. This journey feels deeply connected to my Family Pillar, a living reminder that love and healing often meet us midair—somewhere between what has been and what is still unfolding.
Every season, I build a playlist that mirrors where I am emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. My Fall 2025 Playlist is not just about what I listen to, but about what I live through. Each song represents a moment of truth, courage, or renewal as I continue learning to walk in healing and faith.
I invite you to journey with me through my Fall 2025 Playlist and remember that your story, like mine, is alive with purpose. It is still unfolding, note by note, and within the music, you can find your own strength.
1. “No One Mourns the Wicked” – Wicked Movie Cast feat. Ariana Grande
When I hear “good news, she’s dead,” I think of the parts of myself I had to bury to become whole again. There was a time when I felt like the enemy of Oz, cut off and unseen, living through house arrest and isolation. The world thought Elphaba was gone, but she was only beginning to rise. Like her, I learned that being misunderstood can be painful, yet it can also be the start of finding real identity and freedom.
2. “CANCELLED!” – Taylor Swift
Taylor sings “they’re the ones with matching scars,” and I feel that deep in my soul. I know what it means to live through judgment, to lose friends, and to rebuild from nothing. I did everything right, completed probation, stayed accountable, and still felt erased. “Welcome to my underworld where it gets quite dark” reminds me of the years when I was cut off from connection, but also of the light that returned through those who never gave up on me.
3. “You’re the Voice” – for KING & COUNTRY
The lyric “we’re all someone’s daughter, we’re all someone’s son” gives me strength to keep advocating for change. I am working with my local delegate and senator to reform the law that keeps my life defined by a mistake instead of by growth. This song calls me to stand up and speak with conviction, to use my story as a voice for others facing stigma and systemic barriers. “We can write what we want to write” reminds me that advocacy begins with believing our words matter.
4. “Unwritten” – Natasha Bedingfield
When Natasha sings “staring at the blank page before you,” I see my own new beginnings after years of therapy and soul work. “No one else can feel it for you” reminds me that healing is personal, and no one else can live my story but me. I am learning to co-write my life with God, to trust the process of redemption, and to be proud of the pages still waiting to be filled.
5. “Swing for the Fences” – Elton John & Brandi Carlile
This song was a recommendation from my therapist, and I understand why. When I hear “take a shot at the moon” it reminds me to keep aiming high even after setbacks like losing my job. The words “beautiful you, they’ve got nothing on you” help me see my worth beyond diagnosis and circumstance. I picture that dandelion in the lyrics, dancing in the wind, free and fearless, just as I hope to be.
6. “Fight Like Heaven” – Tauren Wells
I grew up hearing people say “fight like hell,” but Tauren’s voice changes everything when he sings “take a hold of the shield of faith.” I am reminded that I am never fighting alone. My battle is not against people but against darkness, and “there’s power in the name of Jesus” reminds me that the strength I need comes from above.
7. “Vanish Into You” – Lady Gaga
Gaga’s lyric “do you see me now, I’ve been waiting for you” feels like a mirror to my own search for belonging. I have spent years learning to integrate my past, to bring together every version of myself that pain tried to separate. This song also touches my heart because of my grandmother, who is fighting cancer and early dementia. Watching her forget small details reminds me that love is what remains when memories fade.
8. “The Life of a Showgirl” – Taylor Swift feat. Sabrina Carpenter
When Taylor sings “rip me off like fake eyelashes and throw me away,” I think of every moment I was left behind or misunderstood. Life can strip you down, but it can also rebuild you with more grace than before. I connect to “you don’t know the life of a showgirl” because people rarely understand what it takes to start over after being broken. I have learned to turn pain into purpose and to see my scars as proof that I survived. Sabrina’s voice adds a softness that makes the message even more powerful, reminding me that the truest light comes from within.
9. “This Version (The View Theme)” – Leona Lewis
At the start of this year, I was in New York, sitting in The View’s new studio, and it felt like the beginning of a new chapter. When Leona sings “this version of me strong and powerful, brave and beautiful,” I realize how far I have come. “Tried on a hundred faces just to see which one was me” could have been written about my own search for identity. Today I can finally say I love this version of me.
10. “World on Fire” – for KING & COUNTRY & Taylor Hill
This song makes me want to move. When they sing “Hey mama, you'll be proud, 'cause I finally found the truth,” I feel like it’s my own story. I used to be afraid of the fire, afraid of chaos and emotion, but now I understand what it means when they say “I’m gonna set my own world on fire.” My light does not destroy; it illuminates. I saw God in the flame and learned to dance again.
11. “Legends Never Die” – Orville Peck & Shania Twain
The words “keep your head up high” and “I built that road and walked it every mile” remind me that the work I have done to rebuild my life has meaning. For so long, I felt like my story was over, but this song tells me it is still being written. “Legends never die” helps me remember that impact outlives reputation. My journey continues, and I am still standing.
12. “My Way” – Frank Sinatra
I have always loved Sinatra’s confidence when he sings “I did it my way.” I think of every moment I took accountability, followed the rules, respected authority, and stayed faithful to my healing plan. The lyric “through it all, when there was doubt, I ate it up and spit it out” reminds me how far I have come. I have learned from my mistakes, faced them with honesty, and earned the peace I now feel.
13. “The Fate of Ophelia” – Taylor Swift
Taylor’s lyric “if you’d never come for me, I might have drowned in melancholy” feels like a personal rescue story. During my darkest times, I could have been lost like Ophelia, but my Four Pillars—Psychiatry, Therapy, Family, and Faith Community—pulled me back. “You saved me from the fate of Ophelia” captures exactly what my faith and support system did for me. God met me in the water and brought me home.
14. “Fear Has No Power” – Phil Wickham
When Phil sings “darkness will tremble, prison walls are gonna shake,” it reminds me how much freedom faith has brought to my life. Fear used to run my thoughts, but “fear has no power when we worship his name” has become a truth I live by. Even when I lose grip, I know who God is, and that knowledge keeps me steady.
15. “God’s Plan” – Drake
Drake says “I feel good, sometimes, I don’t,” and that honesty captures the rhythm of living with bipolar disorder. But I trust that every season has purpose. “They wishin’ on me” reminds me of the voices of doubt and temptation that I have had to silence through faith. Everything that has happened in my life, even the hardest moments, has been part of God’s plan.
Final Reflection
Music is one of the most powerful tools I have, and I find joy in assigning meaning to every melody. Every lyric and rhythm has been a way to connect with truth and faith. Each of these songs tells a part of my story, a piece of how I survived and who I am still becoming. This playlist is not just a soundtrack; it is a declaration that healing is possible, transformation is real, and life can be rewritten in hope and sound.
