Smile by Johnny Stimson

There’s a song I keep coming back to whenever life feels like too much: Smile by Johnny Stimson.

As someone who overthinks just about everything, there are moments when the noise inside my head becomes overwhelmin, anxious spirals, unanswered questions, worries about things I can’t control. When that happens, music is usually the first thing I reach for. Not to distract myself, but to actually settle down.

Smile does that for me in a way few songs do.

The opening verse hits so close to home:

When my heads is full of questions
And the sky is full of rain
When I’m worrying about what I can’t change
I take a look in my reflection
And try to make a funny face
And for a second all my sorrows melt away

It’s such a small, human act, making a funny face at yourself in the mirror. But there’s something quietly profound about it. It doesn’t solve anything. It just reminds you not to take the weight of everything so seriously.

I’ve been listening to this song since college, and I still go back to it on hard days, sometimes to decompress, sometimes just to fall asleep to. The melody is gentle enough to let your mind slow down without forcing it.

What really stayed with me, though, is the second verse:

Maybe we focus on the future
No use in living in the past
Try to remember that the bad times never last
And if we take one step
One step at a time
We’re gonna make it
Gonna make it alright
If we stick together we’ll be fine

There’s something reassuring about being reminded that bad times are temporary, not in a dismissive way, but in the way a good friend might say it. It made me feel less alone in my own head.

I think that’s what this song keeps teaching me: it’s okay to rest. It’s okay to not have everything figured out. You’re human, and that’s enough for today.

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