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Photo by Edson Rosas on Unsplash
Have you ever had the Brexit blues (regardless of what side of the fence you sit on)? Are you fed up with the uncertainty, or bored of the media frenzy and speculation? Then the lyrics from Blur’s This is a Low, might have a familiar feel.
Although not about Brexit, the song was written back in 1995, the sentiments are so perfectly expressive of how we might feel now. There’s a deep sense of a loss of our nation and national identity in the lyrics of the song.
I do wonder what Damon Albarn was writing about when he penned these lyrics. It is such a shared human experience and emotion to feel that you might be at an all-time low in life. As someone who suffers with depression this is certainly something I can empathise with.
Interestingly, this song was published at a time which might be one of the most exciting times both for Blur and the whole Britpop scene. Blur were now on their third album, had played Glastonbury the year before and a few months later were to play their iconic Mile End stadium gig (I was there, and it was awesome!). This makes the song even more intriguing lyrically.
But isn’t that often the way? As humans, we often feel low even when there is no apparent reason if you were an outsider looking in. Perhaps excitement and anticipation are simply the flip side of the coin to agitation and turmoil? Reflecting on Brexit, I would say there has increasingly been a sense of agitation from those who were once politically excited at the prospect.
So, how do we deal with this as humans? How do we relate this to improving our wellbeing? The song gives us a clue in the insight that the experience of feeling low itself won’t hurt you, but during those times you can expect to feel alone.
The chorus reminds us that most of our emotions won’t hurt us. They might make life more difficult, and, if we allow them, they might make our feelings more acute, but clinically they are unlikely to cause us physical harm.
As such we sometimes need to learn to sit with our emotions and begin to feel comfortable with them. In mindfulness terms, this might be considered welcoming even our more difficult emotions as an old friend. It is only through doing this that we can begin to build resilience and become secure in our being.
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