"Hell No" - Ingrid Michaelson (2016)

I seriously wish this song had been around for some of my breakups.

I really dropped the ball last time I tried writing about an Ingrid song, and... well... I doubt this will be much different. I'm not particularly in the mood to write, after the week I've had, and especially after the "Your Song" post. I think before the end of February I'll be revisiting that song, and either adding more to the post, or creating another with much more info. We'll see, I guess.

Anyway.

There are two videos for this song. The one above, the original, is really fun, with all the use of Snapchat filters.

The one below is fantastic. Ingrid and the Deaf West Theatre sign the song. Has a much more serious tone for most of the video than the Snapchat one does, yet it's still really fun.

I have never taken breakups well. That's really not a secret. My last one, when I was broken up with by the woman from Arkansas I was dating, was actually the only one that didn't crush my entire heart. It hurt, don't get me wrong. It hurt a lot. She will always be the first woman I dated as a woman, so she will always have a secure, special place in my heart.

I think the reason I wasn't crushed in the usual way is that I had recently finished group therapy and gone back to work, and I was in a better place mentally than I had been in a long, long time. I gave myself 24 hours to mourn the relationship, and that was it. I couldn't let myself fall into the same old pattern of beating myself up emotionally, or self harming, or drinking nonstop. You know, my usual coping mechanisms.

My divorce had also been finalized almost exactly a month before this breakup. While the marriage had effectively been over for more than two years by that point, it was still a difficult process to go through.

This song became a big part of the healing process in both cases. As much as I love the sign language video, the original Snapchat video helped me laugh when I wanted so terribly to cry.

That's definitely one of my favorite things about Ingrid Michaelson. No matter what my mood is, I can listen to her music and it cheers me up. Even her sadder songs are so beautiful that I can't help but sing along and stop the sadness inside me from taking complete hold. It's definitely a strategy I need to take advantage of more often.