Survivors’ Anthem Series #20: “Time for Me to Fly” - REO Speedwagon
- Shannon Brown
- Mar 2
- 3 min read
A Song of Strength, From the Strongest Woman I Know
Some survivor anthems are personal.
Some are powerful.
And some are generational.
This is Survivors’ Anthem # 20:
And this one belongs to someone very special.
My mom.
One of the strongest women I have ever known.
Strength Looks Different Up Close
When you’re a child, you don’t always understand what your mother is carrying.
You just see her surviving.
You see her getting up.
You see her protecting.
You see her enduring.
You don’t always see the quiet battles happening behind closed doors.
But as I grew older, I began to understand what strength really meant.
It meant recognizing when something wasn’t healthy.
It meant realizing that love should not feel like depletion.
It meant choosing yourself when you’ve spent years giving everything away.
Her Words
When I asked my mom about this song, this is what she said:
“Pretty easy for me. This song helped me realize I was not alone. It helped me realize that a marriage is not healthy when one gives all and the other gives none but takes and takes.
The lyrics just hit home. Just give and give and give and get nothing in return but pain.
‘I do believe that I've had enough.’ ‘I've got to set myself free.’”
Those words aren’t dramatic.
They’re honest.
And honesty is powerful.
When the Lyrics Become a Turning Point
There comes a moment in unhealthy relationships where exhaustion replaces denial.
Where giving stops feeling loving and starts feeling like erasing yourself.
“Time for Me to Fly” isn’t angry.
It’s resolved.
It’s the sound of someone reaching their limit and realizing that staying is more painful than leaving.
And that realization takes courage.
Especially when you’ve been the one holding everything together.
What She Taught Me
My mom taught me that strength isn’t loud.
It isn’t flashy.
It’s consistent.
It’s the quiet decision to stop accepting less than you deserve.
It’s the willingness to break a cycle instead of repeating it.
Watching her choose herself taught me something I didn’t fully understand at the time:
Resilience isn’t about how much you can endure.
It’s about knowing when you’ve endured enough.
Generational Survival
What we survived looks different.
But survival connects us.
Her strength laid the foundation for mine.
Her decision to set herself free made it possible for me to one day do the same.
That’s what generational resilience looks like.
Not perfection.
Progress.
A Thank You
To REO Speedwagon - thank you for writing a song that has helped so many people recognize their worth and their limits, including a person that means the world to me, my mom.
And to my mom - thank you.
Thank you for your strength.
Thank you for your resilience.
Thank you for showing me what it looks like to say, “I’ve had enough.”
Thank you for teaching me that setting yourself free is not selfish, it’s necessary.
You are one of the strongest women I have ever known.
And I am proud to be your daughter.
What’s Next in the Survivors’ Anthem Series
Each anthem in this series represents a chapter of healing.
This one represents freedom.
If you’re in a place where you are giving and giving and giving and receiving only pain in return…
Maybe it’s time.
Maybe it’s time for you to fly.
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