Why This Song Still Hits: A Therapist’s Reflection

/ Dustin Shultz Counseling/

Every year, this song resurfaces.
Not because we’re nostalgic for the 90s, though maybe that too, but because it captures something deeply human: the ache of a year that was heavier than we expected.

It puts words to things we often keep quiet:

  • the regrets we replay

  • the distance we don’t know how to bridge

  • the guilt we hold in our chest

  • the moments we wished we’d shown up differently

  • the longing that sits under our attempts to be “fine”

  • the deep desire for a better, truer year ahead

As a therapist, I think this song resonates because it allows us to be honest without collapsing into shame.
It lets us look at the year with clear eyes, no pretending, no decorating, and still find the ember of hope inside the mess.

It doesn’t demand that we tie anything up neatly.
It just acknowledges:
It’s been a long year.
You survived it.
And maybe something can shift.

As this year ends, you might gently consider:

  • What did you learn that you didn’t want to learn but needed to?

  • What patterns or distances are you ready to stop carrying?

  • What truth are you finally willing to name?

  • What tiny spark of hope is calling you forward?

Sometimes that spark is more than enough.