Reclaiming Joy: “My Silver Lining” by First Aid Kit

Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit skillfully express the need to find meaning and pleasure in life after experiencing hardship. In “My Silver Lining,” they sing:

Take me some place where there’s music and there’s laughter…
There’s no starting over, no new beginnings, time races on
And you’ve just gotta keep on keeping on.

This need to enjoy life — to meet each day with gratitude — can sometimes be coupled with self-judgement; there is often tension between honoring the past and looking forward. Sorting out what we needs to let go from what we wish to carry on is a very personal journey, and others’ experiences can offer only guidelines and examples. “My Silver Lining” is about keeping what is nourishing, while not worrying about a past that cannot be changed:

Something good comes with the bad
A song’s never just sad
There’s hope, there’s a silver lining

While choosing life and possibility may seem at first to be the easy road compared to the deep and necessary process of integrating loss, it too presents a challenge: to carry the past while not being burdened by it. The repeated vow, “I won’t take the easy road“ is a promise we can all make to ourselves and those who have helped make us who we are — that we will carry those life-making teachings with us, and that they will live on through us.

Read the complete lyrics here.