Fifteen years ago this month, I was crouched down on the shiny white tile floor of an empty big box store, stocking shelves for hours on end while listening to the same few CDs on repeat. I’d finished my college course work in December but wouldn’t officially graduate until May. I was back in my hometown and needed to bring in some money while searching for a full-time position, so I took a job setting up a new Target store.

The store manager, a young woman with lots of energy and Target-brand enthusiasm, had compiled a bunch of upbeat songs to motivate us while we worked to get the store ready for opening. I only remember one of the songs: Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield. According to Wikipedia, it was the most played song on US radio that year.

My whole life was ahead of me then, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. The song embodied the endless possibilities and uncertainties before me. It was hopeful and catchy, and I couldn’t get it out of my head.

Flash-forward to last week, when the song popped into my mind again while I lie in bed trying to fall asleep. I hadn’t heard it recently, but something brought it into my consciousness. A day or two later, I was listening to a self-help audiobook. (I think it was Marie Forleo’s Everything is Figureoutable, but it may have been Jen Sincero’s You Are A Badass At Making Money — I listened to them back-to-back and can’t remember for sure.) The author suggested picking a song to play or sing to yourself whenever you need to do something that scares you. The idea is that the song will pump you up and help you move past the fear so that you can proceed to be brave and kick ass.

First I thought of Eye of the Tiger, which I vividly recall hearing on the radio as I drove to a final exam during my first year of law school. But that didn’t quite feel right. Then I thought of Unwritten. Of course! As I played the lyrics in my head, the song resonated even more with me now than it had fifteen years ago, though I don’t think I’d ever grown tired of it.

You may be thinking, Come on…it’s a cheesy mid-2000’s pop song. THAT’s your power song? But you have to admit, it’s infectious, and full of motivational truth-bombs. And it really does a great job of lifting my mood and encouraging me to aim higher.

I played it on my morning commute today, the warm sun streaming through my windshield. My son, who often spends a good part of the drive telling me he wants to go back home, fell silent with the first notes and then said “I like that song!” So that sealed it for me. From here on out, I’ll be playing Unwritten any time I need to ready myself to do big things.

Do you have a power song? If you had to pick one, what would it be? Tell us in the comments!

Unwritten, by Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten
Can’t read my mind
I’m undefined

I’m just beginning
The pen’s in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries are outside the lines
We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes
But I can’t live that way

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins

Feel the rain on your skin
No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips
Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten
The rest is still unwritten