We here at Transcend Trauma, like surely everyone else in the UK, had tears in our eyes when Lewis Capaldi ‘surprised’ Glastonbury; returning this year after being unable to complete his set in 2023.
The guts it took to walk out onto the Pyramid Stage to that sea of people…the bravery, the courage!
Lewis has spoken publicly about his mental health and struggles with Tourette’s syndrome (and, how many times have I Googled to try to find something that tells me how he’s doing - I’ve worried!)
That set us thinking about the difference (or similarity) between public and private ‘battles’…
Lewis has, reportedly, linked with mental health organisation BetterHelp to donate 734,000 hours of free therapy; acknowledging his (J word alert!!!) journey over the past 2yrs…what a guy…and written a beautiful song to reflect that road he’s been on, appropriately called Survive.
How long till it feels
Like the wound’s finally starting to heal?
How long till it feels
Like I’m more than a spoke in a wheel?
Most nights, I fear
That I’m not enough
I’ve had my share of Monday mornings when I can’t get up
But, when hope is lost
And I come undone
I swear to God, I’ll survive
If it kills me to
I’m gonna get up and try
If it’s the last thing I do
I’ve still got something to give
Though it hurts sometimes
I’m gonna get up and live
Until the day that I die
I swear to God, I’ll survive
How long till you know
That, in truth, you know nothing at all?
How far will you go
To get back to the place you belong?
Most nights, I fear
That I’m not enough
But I refuse to spend my best years rotting in the Sun
So, when hope is lost
And I come undone
I swear to God, I’ll survive
If it kills me to
I’m gonna get up and try
If it’s the last thing I do
I’ve still got something to give
Though it hurts sometimes
I’m gonna get up and live
Until the day that I die
I swear to God, I’ll survive
I swear to God, I’ll survive.
Powerful words hey? It talks about the very real struggle to get up every day when you are fighting a battle others know nothing about and to keep going, daring to hope that brighter days are coming.
How true does that ring for you? I know it does for me, days where I use every ounce of strength I can find to get up and face the world, showing it nothing of the battle and demons that I fight to just keep going. But the effort that takes, the price you pay?
However, when you do keep going, when you keep believing and hoping, the day comes when the fight becomes less fierce and you realise that the good days are more than the bad days, and the need to “mask” the struggle is getting less of a burden.
Lewis is a great example of what recognising your limits can be though. He had worked so hard and hidden his struggle, until on that day 2 years ago, he could do it no more. His reality became visible for the crowd to see – and they held him up and supported him through it. He had choices then, to try a quick fix and hope it would be OK, to give everything up and never come back, or to work it through and come back when time, therapy and work had brought him to a different place. We know what option he took, and there is a lot to learn from that.
We need to be patient with ourselves, to put in the work, to take the rest, and to pace ourselves in order to be the best version of ourselves and live the best life we can. As Lewis says “I still got something to give!”
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