Three Simple Words

Don’t stop believin’.

That simple phrase first entered our ears in 1981. Maybe you had the album. (I didn't.)

And over the past four-plus decades, it has entered our lives as many things: a hit song by Journey, the band who coined it; as an incessant earworm that many of us have suffered time and time again (and maybe right now ... my apologies); as the capper to the final scene of The Sopranos; and more recently, as an anthem heard at just about every wedding dance (at least every one I’ve attended in the past umpteen years) that immediately gets everyone up and singing along.

It’s not a great piece of prose or poetry, if you ask me. Like much of my own writing, it's clumsy and inefficient (I mean, doesn’t “don’t stop” simply mean “start” or “continue”?), it somehow captures a real-life, human idea that is, at its core, hopeful and relatable. And like so many pieces of imperfect art, it’s made a mark on the world.

The funny thing is, for the million times (I’m exaggerating) I’ve heard it––on the radio, in karaoke bars, at weddings, on TV shows or movies and in sports arenas––I’ve taken it for granted; tuned it out. But on the million-and-first listening of it recently (again exaggerating), it struck me, not only as a great song lyric, but as a mantra.

Today, I don’t have any funny, thoughtful or quirky stories about my life; no grand observations of some oddball behavior in a grocery store parking, or even my opinion on what makes a good piece of bubble gum. Because right now, I’m too wrapped up in these three words: don’t stop believin’.

Every day, I’m looking for something that drives me, makes me want to do more, be a better human being, and contribute more to the greater good. And I just realized, after 40-some years of hearing this song lyric, I’ve found my inspiration.

Maybe like you (maybe not), in recent years and due to many factors, many created of my own doing, it has become increasingly difficult to “don’t stop believin’.” (I told you it was clumsy, didn't I?) But the last time I heard it, at a wedding dance) I realized that I shouldn’t––and I can’t––stop believin’.

I must believe in myself and in those around me. To stop believin’ means I’ve given in, or worse yet, given up. And of all the things that concern me (and you too, regardless of your age, status, nationality or all the other things that make us a diverse world), I think the thing that concerns me the most at this moment is our lack of “believin’” in ourselves and in one another. Because that’s what tears us apart vs. bringing us together.

Today’s not perfect and tomorrow won’t be either. And some will be nothing more than a steaming pile of s**t. That's life, because we're all going through “stuff.” And while my stuff is different than yours and may come from a completely different place or perspective, the only way I can get through my stuff is to take that clumsy, campy three-word phrase and live it out the best I can today, and then tomorrow, and so on, steaming piles of s**t be damned.

So, thank you, Journey, for the helpful reminder … Don’t stop believin’.

© 2025 David R. Haznaw