song: highs and lows
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Highs and lows is an original that holds a space for anyone who's struggled with their mental health, currently or not, wherever you're at. This song takes direct reference from my own personal experiences from my own mental health journey but I tried to frame it in a way that's relatable and general. So with this, I hope this piece brings you a moment to reflect and that you don't feel alone in your journey. A soft reminder to remember to look at how far you've made it now and that yes you have been trying your best to heal from the pains and regrets.
So if I'm going to be completely honest and vulnerable here, I don't know how much I want to share about this piece. This song highlights my most recent like 2-5 or 6 years ago journey with my mental health. With that being said, I've made indirect references to my mental health diagnosis but I will not be disclosing it. If you know me on a personal and deeper level, let's keep it private please. This is for ease of mind and privacy reasons, maybe one day when I want to advocate and share more of my mental health journey then I will disclose. But for now, let's keep it general 🙂
So this song really spans two separate mental health situations and these are my learnings and experiences from those situations, my recovery and overall journey with them. Let's dive deep into the lyrics and their context. I hope from reading the context, you can reflect and relate more to this song which was made to embrace my own journey but I hope it can relate even just a little bit to anyone's mental health journey.
So I have an original photo with the written lyrics and it was dated from May 17th, 2026. This song came timely for Mental Health Awareness month although I'm posting it into the next month, the conversation and awareness never stops.
Let's begin, so I labeled the verses with numbers and then the pre chorus and chorus with letters.
The first verse introduces the fact that life has ups and downs and suddenly things can happens that's why we have to hold on tight. Highs and lows, your mental health can experience both and balancing it can be rough.
The pre-chorus, the part that goes look how far we've made it now pays homage to the journey and that we're not giving up even if it's tough.
The chorus or B is split into 2 different parts, let's call them Chorus 1 and 2. Chorus 1 really talks about the efforts you're making to heal from the pains and regrets. Chorus 2 talks about how there are somethings that aren't forgotten and that there is both shame and love nuanced into remembering those things. This is a big thing for me because I spent a lot of time remembering past events, how I treated myself and other people around me, and it brought a lot of shame. I've now been meeting myself with more self-compassion and grace. I hope you can do the same for yourself baby steps.
Verse 2 is kind of like the lows of the mental health journey referencing blues and Greys. Feeling mundane. Asking what and why everyday. It kind of speaks for itself but this part of the journey is very evident for me, I've always kinda hit these lows more often than not. The hopeful bit for it is that I know that things tend to take their time, so better days are always ahead and that healing has its own trajectory and is not linear either.
Verse 3 is like the comeback verse, talking about how we're trying to build new things and wishing for safe spaces when it gets rough again. This verse kind of highlights the present and hopeful future, the more positive and balanced part of the journey. Learning from it and preparing ahead and knowing your safe spaces.
So overall, when I look at the verses, pre chorus and chorus another you get this honest journey of mental health lows happen, we've survived through them and we're doing our best, it still hurts yet we still keep on going and we are moving forward with lessons and blessings from it. And as I type this out, the reason why I called this song Highs and Lows is for two different reasons, one it references my favourite verse in this song and that is related to my mental health diagnosis, two Highs and lows also just simply describe and help visualize the mental health journey that is just Highs and lows and everything in between to find balance.
Anyways, I feel like I've written quite a lot. This song is a really personal one, or well all my pieces are personal, this one in particular is just very vulnerable and I feel slightly exposed in a way. Welcome to my inner most thoughts and my mental health journey.
If you've reached this point of the blog, thank you for holding this space with me.
Take care always,
MAP2
2026-06-23
I almost forgot, this is a post script note at this point, reflection question and invitation to take a moment and reflect:
"What are you trying your best to heal from, which pains and regrets? Or what have you healed from? Celebrate and embrace that too"
My answer:
Hmmm to answer this question, it's a deep one alright. Or vulnerable one. I guess for myself, I'm trying my best to heal from the shame, criticism and judgement that I have for myself from my two mental health situations. And to be honest, I have been healing from it, meeting myself with more forgiveness and self compassion. In the chorus I reference that all my memories are stuck on repeat, the shame and the love overwhelm me. And all my memories cause me to judge but then also be grateful for the love. It's a real weird dynamic because I have to sit with my feelings and say hey, we're safe now. It's not back then. We did the best we could with what we knew. We were sick, don't blame yourself completely. You can take responsibility with what you do moving forward, things like attending doctor's appointments, therapy, medication, creating art, journalling and building a space to survive and vibe in. All these things serve as soft reminders to say "look how far we've made it now" and that "the game's been tough but we're here to win it". Especially the fact that the game's been tough, that situations happens, disadvantages and weaknesses were exposed to you. For me specifically, it was tough with the shame and post-situation recovery time and entering back into life. It was definitely an interesting time and the whole comeback season of it was me saying "we're here to win it" and not let my mental health situation discourage me from living. So I want to celebrate and embrace that fact that I survived and vibed up until now and continue to. I keep on trying and show up with my best every day. I hope you can celebrate and embrace the same as your strength and resilience to life's Highs and Lows.
2026-06-23
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