I’m sure we’ve all listened to Ed Sheeran’s new album a hundred times already, and we’ve even picked out our favorite songs. But let’s be honest, the whole album is clearly our favorite. Sheeran has opened up to us like never before, and after taking such a long break, we knew that he had to come back with some fire songs.
“Before you can save anyone else out there, you need to first save yourself.”
While the album is a complete masterpiece, “Save Myself” struck a couple chords, and when I say a couple, I mean I cry every time I listen to the song. There’s something about listening to a record that completely reaffirms everything that you’ve been trying to tell yourself. Before you can save anyone else out there, you need to first save yourself. I mean, if you’re like me and any other human being out there, you’ve probably been let down countless times by other inconsiderate, selfish assholes. But, through all of it, you never let it break you or stop you from caring about the other great people that came along.
While I’m not 100% sure what inspired Sheeran to write this song, I’m glad he did. Time and time again we do so much for others knowing good and well that deep inside, we are breaking too, but we don’t show it. We tell ourselves that things will be okay, sometimes they are and other times it’s just too much to handle, so what do we do? We make sure we numb our pain with anything that will help and we try our best to forget it all.
We need to start taking care of ourselves before we even attempt to take care of someone else. Sometimes it’s in our nature to care for and protect others, all the while we are the ones who need the shoulder to cry on and the protection from hurt. You may listen to the song and think about people who have hurt you in the past, it’s exactly what I did. After a few more listens (over 20) I realized that I just need to take care of me first. I may have been let down by those people but I can’t put all the blame on them. They just responded to me in accordance with my actions and my actions at the time in no way depicted me wanting to be “saved.”
This song is great and it forces you to acknowledge some things. But, please don’t use the excuse of saving yourself and putting yourself first in order to block people out who genuinely care about you, or to build walls to protect yourself from those who are getting closer to you. It’s a bullshit way to keep yourself closed off from the world and also an easy excuse as to why you keep things to yourself. Those are the excuses I use all the time and I’m realizing how old they’ve gotten.
You may have been let down, but it’s time to pick yourself back up.
Featured image via “Ed Sheeran” by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity Photographer / CC BY-SA 2.0
