Setlist of Survival: A Playlist for Healing, Shadow to Fire

Music has always been more than background noise for me. It’s been a lifeline. Certain songs don’t just play; they pull you through. Over the past months, I’ve been piecing together a playlist that mirrors the journey I’ve been on: from the shadows of loss, through clarity and release, into motion and fire again.

I call it the Setlist of Survival.

It begins in darkness with tracks like Audioslave’s Shadow on the Sun and Johnny Cash’s haunting cover of Hurt. They are raw reflections of what it means to carry too much for too long. The middle of the list grounds you with reminders like Be Yourself by Audioslave and Times Like These by Foo Fighters. From there it begins to move: Even Flow, Walk, Cry Baby—learning to let thoughts drift like butterflies and finding momentum again. It closes in fire: Best of You, The Day I Tried to Live, Show Me How to Live. These are anthems of strength, renewal, and claiming life forward.

It’s 21 songs sequenced like a live show, complete with an encore. Each track marks a checkpoint in the messy, necessary process of healing.

If you’re walking on your own path through shadow toward something brighter, I hope this setlist gives you the same sense of rhythm, release, and renewal it gave me.

👉 Listen to the Setlist of Survival on Apple Music