I’M ALIVE Not only am I alive, I have turned 21 . And my birthday got me thinking about this accidental tradition I’ve had ever since I w...

Melodic Mondays: Year 20

Alexa Mintah

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I’M ALIVE

Not only am I alive, I have turned 21. And my birthday got me thinking about this accidental tradition I’ve had ever since I was 13 years old: I find songs that sort of represent my year, and generally, they were songs that actually had the number I had turned in the title (13 by the Rubyz for my 13th year, 18 by Daughtry for my 18th year, and so on). But I never was able to find a song for 20 that actually had the number “20” in it.

So instead, I figured I’d share a collection of songs that kinda represented my year, regardless of the numbers within them. 😉

I struggled a lot this year, with school, with life, just all kinds of things. Sometimes, I felt like more stress had been thrown at me in the past 365 days than in my entire life put together. This song made me feel so powerful whenever I wanted to throw in the towel. It reminded me to just do the next thing and keep doing it, to get up the next day and do it again, and to always remember that I am a Daughter of the King. That with Christ’s help, when I’m at the end of my strength, that’s where I find His. With Him at my side, I can get up everyday and do it again, until I reach the goals I’m striving for.

So much grace. I needed all the grace this year. :p Like I said, I struggled a lot, and this was the year that I realized how much I truly need Jesus and His grace to carry me through, not just in the big situations, but even in the everyday ones. Especially when the bigger situations had drained me and I felt like I couldn’t take a milligram more.

Despite my various issues and insecurities, I embraced who I am a lot more than I had in previous years. I wouldn’t say that I had spent a lot of time trying to be someone else exactly, but I have often thought of myself as just awkward or weird or some other trait too generally graceless and peculiar to be liked by others (this has, for the record, gone entirely unsupported by most of the people I know, but the idea remained in my head). However, moving forward into this year, I know my identity is in Christ. None of the rest of it matters, not my opinions, not the world’s opinions, not any negativity I come across and try to put onto myself. Yes, I’m awkward. Yes, I make a lot of mistakes. But my identity is in Christ and He made me, well, me. With Him at my side, I am ready to be the me He meant when He made. I am ready to be myself.

Three basically continues the above sentiment (and will likely be a theme that continues into my 21st year), but the last few lines tie it all together in one of the most beautiful ways I’ve ever heard.

Though these songs do describe my year in some ways, the above collection kinda makes it seem like all I did was angst, lol—which is not at all the case. Though I definitely had a lot of struggles, I also had a lot of fun. And here are some of my favorite songs that represent that.

And that’s a small snippet of my year in an annotated playlist, lol. Can you think of a song (or two or three) that represent your current age? Do you have any songs called 21 (or with 21 in them) for this upcoming year? Lol. Can’t wait to hear from you all, and I will see you in the comment section!

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