Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt » My Life’s Soundtrack

Glenda Watson Hyatt shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them. She does all this by typing with only her left thumb!

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My Life’s Soundtrack

Filed under: Motivation — by Glenda at 2:17 pm on Saturday, April 5, 2008

Thursday’s post invited readers to ask me questions, to ask anything. (Questions are still welcomed!) AnneShirley asked, “I know you must have down moments. What do you do to cheer yourself up?”

Thanks for your question, AnneShirley. Yes, like anyone, I do have my down moments â€“ when I feel frustrated or when life becomes overwhelming. In those moments, I often turn to music to relieve frustration, to inspire and to reenergize.

The following five songs have become my life’s soundtrack:

1. Never Give Up On Dream by my fav Rod Stewart who wrote the song as a tribute to Canadian Terry Fox during his Marathon of Hope. I’ve been known to play the song repeatedly to get back into the head space I needed to be in.

2. Sweet Surrender by John Denver – I won my gold medal riding to this one.

(This video also includes Take Me Home, Country Roads, which always reminds me of a family friend Chris who was taken from us way too young by a drunk driver. He was only sixteen. We still miss you, Chris.)

3. Tina Turner’s Simply the Best – who isn’t reenergized after this one?!

4. Elvis Presley’s I Did It My Way is very much how I live my life. I find it analogous to I’ll Do It Myself.

5. Peter O’Toole’s The Impossible Dream saw me through writing, editing and self-publishing my autobiography when that dream seemed impossible. (The video’s audio isn’t the greatest quality.)

What is playing on your life’s soundtrack?

If you enjoyed this post, consider buying me a chai tea latte. Thanks kindly.

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Comment by isabella mori

April 5, 2008 @ 3:14 pm

what a great question! and yes, i DO think it has meme potential.

so many songs come to mind … lessee … “i will survive” by donna summer because of the hope and the energy;

“redemption song” by bob marley because of the social justice it speaks of;

“california dreamin'” by the mamas and papas – reminds me of my teenage days, when my first boyfriend was in a band and they were playing it all the time;

“is that all there is” by peggy lee: i love the closeness to life of that song; the deep melancholy mixed with joie de vivre;

“manha de carnival” (black orpheus samba) in joan baez’ version – a song that has accompanied me almost all my life. it’s beautiful and reincorces my connection with latin america;

“gracias a la vida” (thanks to life) by violeta parra. another song from latin america. deeply spiritual in a totally secular way, it speaks to all the miracles we experience in life;

and at least one gospel song needs to be here. hmmm … how about “sometimes i feel like a motherless child”

oh and the russian lullaby i grew up with and is now passed on to my grandson: “bayu bayushki bayu”

i guess i should stop now … 🙂

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Comment by Stacey Monk

April 13, 2008 @ 6:35 pm

helping a sister make her goal, and answering a great question 🙂

recently all kinds of totally random songs from my past have been percolating in my brain, so i’ll choose two that would probably be totally unique to my personal internal CD player:

Even a Miracle Needs a Hand
from Twas the Night Before Christmas
(You can listen to it here.)

because I’ve been working for the last 6 months on a building a new non-profit (Epic Change), and the sentiment is perfect.

Let the River Flow
from Up with People
(You can listen to it here.)

Because it reminds me of my brother.

Both these songs are ubercheesy and have limited musical appeal, so I actually don’t really listen to them outside my own brain; they just have messages that are particularly timely for me. So as not to leave anyone with the impression that these are indicative of my normal musical tastes, here’s what’s on the last CD I made:

Maybe I’m Amazed (Jem)
The Way I Am (Ingrid Michaelson)
The Story (Brandi Carlile)
Last Request (Paulo Nutini)
Electricity (Elton John from ‘Billy Elliot’ &
which, btw, describes precisely, for me, how it feels to dance)
Whatta Man (Salt-N-Pepa & En Vogue)
At Last (Etta James)
Lost Without You (Robin Thicke)
No One (Alicia Keys)
Father Figure (George Michael)
By Your Side (Sade)
My Love (Justin Timberlake)
Stronger (Kanye West)
Hide and Seek (Imogen Heap)
My Dear Acquaintance (Regina Spektor)

Throw out more great questions on twitter, and follow me there @StaceyMonk, and I’ll try to answer.

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Comment by Jason Rivera

May 27, 2010 @ 5:39 pm

George Michael is also a great singer and was quite famous in the 80’s era.`”.

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