My favorite band of all time is the San Diego based, alternative rock band Switchfoot. You may be familiar with their songs "Meant To Live" or "Dare You To Move" from their 2003 album "The Beautiful Letdown." But they have done a lot more than just a couple radio hits from the early aughts. Switchfoot's music means a lot to me, their constant theme of hope and positivity has helped me through some low points in my life, and so I thought I would share 6 of my favorite songs.

1. "Where The Light Shines Through" "Where The Light Shines Through" is the title track from their 10th and most recent album. The song is about how every misfortune, every bad experience, every injury makes you stronger and shows that there is hope at the end of the day, that our "wounds are where the light shines through." To me this is a very powerful image because it makes so much sense; the light of hope can't be seen unless a hole is opened up for it to shine through. Even though this album and this song have only been out for about a month at the time of my writing this, I have listened to it over and over again, and I'm certain I will be listening to it even more when school comes back because I need to be reminded that hope is always there.

2. "Love Alone is Worth The Fight" I mean it's right there in the title. This song reminds me that no matter what you should always fight for what and who you love because those are the things and people that are most important to you. And there is no other legitimate reason to fight; fighting for hate or greed only causes destruction because they are empty causes, but love is something noble to fight for, it is something to be defended, and I try to live like that.

3. "The Shadow Proves The Sunshine" This song's title was actually my senior quote in high school. And to be completely honest it still means a great deal to me. Similarly to "Where The Light Shines Through" this song serves as a reminder that there is always hope because the shadow cannot exist without the sun and so even if you're in a dark time at the moment the light is just around the corner to brighten your day.

4. "Chem 6A" Off their first album is a song about not wanting to be in school which sung to my 17 year old heart like no other song could. But after high school I listened to it again and realized that on top of being about not wanting to be in school it's about not wanting to just read about accomplishments but also accomplishing things yourself which is much more profound if you ask me.

5. "American Dream" This song also spoke to the teenager in me because it is about not wanting to live for just money and how the American Dream has shifted from the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of the almighty dollar. I would listen to this song and draw anarchy signs on my notebooks.

6. "Stars" This is my favorite Switchfoot song. I have had my fair share of existential crises and this song is about existence in general: feeling like everything you do is wrong, that nothing you do matters, etc, then the chorus comes and they sing about looking up at the stars and seeing someone else and feeling like yourself and it really struck me. Usually in these kinds of songs looking up at the stars is a scary thing that reminds us how small we are but this song is about looking up and seeing how beautiful the universe is and appreciating the life we have.