Who Says?

Exhibit A

Okay, so I'm a huge fan of Selena Gomez. I've been watching Wizards of Waverly Place for a couple of years now, and she's so great on that show. (Although I will admit that my obsession with Wizards may or may not but definitely does have to do with David Henrie, and how he's basically Jag in real life... See Exhibit A.)

But Selena has a new song out called Who Says? I loved it the first time I heard it, and immediately downloaded it for the iPod. Then I listened on repeat.

There's some great lyrics in the verses, but it's the chorus that really gets me --right--here--

Who says?
Who says you're not perfect?
Who says you're not worth it?
Who says you're the only one that's hurting?
Trust me,
That's the price of beauty.
Who says you're not pretty?
Who says you're not beautiful?
Who says?

I always think of the chorus as speaking to my manuscript and the time it takes to get it ready for anyone to read. Who says it's not worth it? Who says I'm the only one bleeding through my eyeballs to get the words on the page in the right place?

That's the price of beauty (in writing). And who says my books aren't pretty (in the end)?

So yeah. I think drafting and revising is really hard work. Sometimes it feels like too much work. That it's not worth it. But it is. Keep at it.

And then the bridge (I really have no idea if this is, in actuality, the bridge, but you know):

Who says you're not star potential?
Who says you're not presidential?
Who says you can't be in movies?
Listen to me, listen to me.
Who says you don't pass the test?
Who says you can't be the best?
Who said?
Who said?
Would you tell me who said that?

During this part, the song moves from talking about my MS to talking about ME. I think sometimes we tell ourselves that we're not star potential. That we don't pass the test. That we can't be in movies.

I think it's easy to read a rejection as "You're not good enough. You can't be in movies." It's easy to see someone else's success as "I'm not star potential." We take a critique as "You don't pass the test."

But who says all that?

We do. (Usually.)

We've got to stop that, and keep working hard. And that's why Who Says? by Selena Gomez has been played about 476 times in my iTunes.

What song really hits you hard? Motivates you? Makes you cry and then determine to work that much harder?