This is my fight song

A playlist for recovering

Image created via Midjourney

A few weeks ago, I decided to put together a playlist. I’ll have a lot of time sitting around in the hospital post-surgery to remove my brain tumor.

I asked friends, family, and strangers on Threads to contribute ideas. I got over 90 songs to add to my playlist! It would have taken too much time to add them all to the list below, so I’ve added 40 of them. Maybe I’ll update the list at some point. (All of them are on my actual playlist, but I use Amazon Music, so it’s not as easy to share as something like Spotify).

I specifically requested “motivational songs” and “songs that make you smile.” Everyone who contributed understood the assignment, and I got some great suggestions.

You can grab the list from YouTube Music here.

1. Fight Song by Rachel Platten

2. Bye Bye Bye by NSync

3. Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys

4. The Middle by Jimmy Eat World

5. Float On by Modest Mouse

6. This Is Me by Keala Settle

7. I Believe That We Will Win by Pitbull

8. Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles

9. Get Back by The Beatles

10. The Show Must Go On by Queen

11. Fuck You by Lily Allen

12. Defying Gravity by Third Reprise

13. Freedom by George Michael

14. Raise Your Glass by Pink

15. Thunderstruck by AC/DC

16. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

17. Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me? by Taylor Swift

18. The Nights by Acicii

19. My Shot by Lin-Manuel Miranda

20. I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash

21. Instant Karma by U2

22. Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & The Waves

23. Better Not Look Down by B.B. King

24. Free by Florence + The Machine

25. Stronger by Britney Spears

26. idgaf by Grimes

27. It’s the End of the World As We Know It by R.E.M

28. About Damn Time by Lizzo

29. I Love Me by Meghan Trainor

30. Survivor by Destiny’s Child

31. Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man

32. Breakfast by Dove Cameron

33. Legends Are Made by Sam Tinnesz

34. Come What May by Aaron Tveit and Karen Olivo

35. One Day More by Les Misérables Cast

36. I’m Still Standing by Elton John

37. This Is the Moment by Anthony Warlow

38. No One Is Alone by Bernadette Peters

39. You’ll Never Walk Alone by Marcus Mumford

40. Unstoppable by Sia

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I’ll be writing more about my Brain Tumor Journey in my personal blog. If you’d like to support my recovery, I have a GoFundMe or you can buy me a coffee.

You can also subscribe to support this publication as I continue to write during my Brain Tumor Recovery.