Yes, you read that correctly.
Now, it's a pretty well-known fact that I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan—if you haven't seen my "Love Story" performance, I'm really sorry. One reason I love her music so much is because the lyrics are so real, and I feel like many of us can relate to them at some point or another. And when "Shake It Off" came out, she didn't disappoint.
Over the weekend, I was in a wedding, and I did something I do at most events that have music: I made friends with the DJ. I always do this to ensure at least one T Swizzle song gets played, and I am not going to start making exceptions now. He asked me if "Shake It Off" would be alright, and I told him it would be perfect.
But I didn't realize how perfect it actually was.
When the song came on, the dance floor goers (especially the girls, obviously) became pretty enthusiastic and belted the lyrics while we all did our own versions of shaking. As I was apparently living in my own personal music video, I started thinking about some of the lyrics more, and I felt like I was letting go of so many stresses and worries that had been bogging me down. I just shook them all off.
 |
| We're about to shake |
One of my favorite parts of the song is when it says, "I'm dancing on my own (dancing on my own); I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go), and that's what they don't know; that's what they don't know." You see, I dance on my own the majority of the time, and I never know what move to expect next. I just kind of go with it, and I think it's a good way to approach life in some ways. You might be dancing on your own, but it can be a beautiful dance—even if those around you don't think the moves are so lovely. It's your dance, not theirs.
The entire song is such a great reminder of why we shouldn't be so focused on how other people perceive us. Even when it comes to relationships. Excuse my middle-school-sounding wording, but if a guy doesn't like me back, I'm just going to shake it off. I was thinking about this as I was likely looking like a flailing bird when my friends Maddie and Whitney finally joined me on the dance floor (I had told them to be there for this song). We all just kept jamming out to the song, and I felt so much better at the end of it. I felt free.
Then I thought of "Shake It Off" during a worship song at church Sunday. (Yes, you read that correctly, too.)
We were singing "In Christ Alone," and these lyrics stood out to me more than they usually do: "No power of hell, no scheme of man, could ever pluck me from His hand; 'til He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand." It reminded me of the chorus of Taylor Swift's song, when she sings about how players are gonna play, haters are gonna hate, heartbreakers are gonna break, and fakers are gonna fake. And that's when you just shake it off. Just like in the worship song: people and things are going to try to lead you away from the Lord, but you just have to shake all of those things off and keep your feet firmly planted on His solid ground.
You're going to face difficult things in life, whether it's people or situations, but that doesn't mean you have to be defeated by them. People aren't always going to be nice—shake it off, and give them grace; your heart might get broken—shake it off, and look forward to new beginnings; people may lie or deceive you in various ways—shake it off, and put your trust in what is genuine; life is going to throw you curves—shake it off, and keep swinging for the fences.
And you might find that other's will want to join you in dancing to "this.sick.beat."
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