Ending Credits
Imagine this period of your life like a season of a TV show. What song would play during the ending credits?
This past week, my husband and I were fortunate enough to have two friends from the States visit us in the U.K. We’ve known these friends for almost a decade, having first met them in college.
It’s fun to meet people when they’re teenagers navigating life in college, and now know them as adults navigating life out here in “the real world.” If anything, it’s a lovely reminder that no one has any idea what they’re doing. We’re all stumbling and tripping and brushing the dirt off our knees and laughing and figuring it out as we go.
These friends were a part of our wedding party back in 2021, solidifying their places in our lives forever and ever. (We may not have mentioned that part to them when they agreed to be groomsmen, but too late to back out now!) During our week galivanting around the U.K., they mentioned that the night before our wedding, another friend of ours (and fellow groomsmen) had posed this question to them: “Imagine this period of your life like a season of a TV show. What song would play during the ending credits?”
To be honest, this question STUMPED me. I would classify this “season” of my life as these past five months in the U.K. and wondered what song could match it. It was only after hearing their thoughtful answers and scrolling through my playlists from the last few years that I stumbled across the perfect answer. My ending credits for this season of life would be “Slow Down” by Forrest Frank.
🎶
I just wanna slow down my heart
Walk at the pace of the breeze
I just wanna slow down my mind
To rest like a bird in the trees
🎶
*Patiently waits while you click on the YouTube video and listen to the song before continuing this blog post*
Back? Nice. Great song, right?!
During the last five months, I’ve been given an incredible opportunity to slow down my life in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever done before. From 2020-2023 especially, I was juggling a full-time job with graduate school, and it felt like every day was go-go-gogogogogo. But here, I’ve had the privilege to work part-time and to just be.
I feel like I’ve fallen in love with creating again. I’ve met people who have encouraged me, listened to me, inspired me, and shown me that creating is contagious. I’ve had moments where I’ve fallen down the black hole of self-doubt, but friends both here and in the US have lowered down a ladder that allowed me to climb out.
Additionally, friends back home have deemed me their international pen pal (<3), and I’ve spent a lot of time here writing letters/emails/journal entries which allow me to reflect on all I’m seeing and doing. In terms of finding ways to slow down, handwriting a letter to a beloved friend is one of my all-time favorites.
Lastly, I’ve also been able to travel more than ever before, which has allowed me to stay present. And you know what also helps me stay present? My notebook, Cloud!
To slow down and be present — to feel like you are actually a part of your surroundings (feeling the breeze, hearing the ruffle of the trees, catching strangers exchange soft smiles, splashing in a puddle, cool raindrops kissing your cheeks and forehead) — all of that is why I’ve chosen this ending credit song for this season of my life.
Just like your favorite TV show, it can be hard when a season comes to a close. Will the next season be as good? What new characters will be introduced? What storylines will develop?
I have no idea, but I hope you’ll tune in with me. :)
Now, your turn! Leave me a comment: What song would play during the ending credits of your current season of life?
P.S.!!! I wanted to share that I recently had two pieces published on SubStack:
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A story I wrote back in 2018 about closure, grief, and embarking on new chapters that require us to leave others behind. I’m happy it has found a home.
Story Behind the Story: Speechless —
A peek behind the curtain of what goes into writing a story. My short story “Speechless” was published in Dandelion Revolution Press’s 2022 anthology Every Breath Alight.