The Wake-Up Anthem: Finding the Beauty Beneath the Struggle

Every so often, life gives us moments that shake the ground beneath us — moments that demand our attention and challenge everything we thought we knew.

They arrive as shutdowns - Closed doors. Unexpected endings. Silence after the noise. And while our first instinct might be to resist, to question, or to mourn what we’ve lost, I’ve come to understand something deeper: Sometimes the things that happen outside of us are designed to awaken something within us.

That’s the heartbeat of my new song, “The Shutdown (Is A Wake Up).”

I wrote it after feeling the collective tension and exhaustion that seemed to ripple through our world — politically, economically, emotionally. Every headline carried weight. Every conversation felt heavy. And yet, in that heaviness, I kept hearing a small, still voice saying,

“There’s beauty underneath this struggle.”

That phrase, of course, comes from the title of my book, The Beauty Underneath the Struggle: Creating Your B.U.S. Story , and it has never felt more relevant than it does now. Writing that book taught me that every challenge holds a hidden invitation — an opportunity to rise, reflect, and rediscover who we truly are.

So when I sat down to write the song, I wasn’t thinking about just one group of people or one type of struggle. I was thinking about all of us.

We’ve all experienced moments that brought us to our knees — losing a job, navigating uncertainty, feeling powerless against forces we can’t control. But what if those breakdowns aren’t meant to destroy us, but to awaken us? What if the shutdowns in our lives — personal, societal, or spiritual — are really mirrors showing us where our true power lives?

Because here’s the truth: When everything external feels unstable, that’s when the internal begins to stir. When the noise fades, our soul finally has space to speak.

And that’s what “The Shutdown (Is A Wake Up)” became for me — not just a song, but an awakening. A reminder that our greatest resilience is born in the quiet, that peace is found not by escaping the struggle, but by embracing the lessons it holds.

We’re all connected in this experience. Different lives. Different stories. But the same heartbeat. The same longing for hope, for peace, for meaning.

If you listen closely to this anthem, you’ll hear more than words and rhythm — you’ll hear the sound of a collective rising .A call for all of us to pause, breathe, and remember that we still rise.

Because even when the world shuts down…the Spirit turns on.

Help awaken others — share this post with your community and remind them that even in struggle, there’s still something beautiful to be grateful for.

💛 #TheShutdownIsAWakeUp #TheBeautyUnderneathTheStruggle #WakeUpMovement