I had a recent epiphany of sorts that I wanted to articulate somewhere… and what else is a blog for??

I had written a review of Of Monsters and Men’s second studio album, Beneath the Skin, in 2015. While I haven’t kept up with this band’s music of late (and I should really revisit them), this album has left a mark on my soul. Its storytelling power and lyrical imagery still sticks with me.

One song in particular, “Thousand Eyes” ends with an unforgettable climactic declaration by the narrator: “I am the storm… so wait.”

At the time, in the budding-adulthood tumult that can be your mid-twenties, I interpreted this statement as a threat — a warning to those who might wade into psychological or emotional depths with the narrator and find the chaos and rage of a storm at sea. It felt powerful and ominous.

Recently, however, it occurred to me that “I am the storm” does not merely have to mean that someone is a looming threat to others around them — bringers of a storm.

I think it could also mean to embody the storm, to constantly bear the torrent of emotions that could cloud your interactions with yourself or those around you. So yes, you might bring the storm unto others, but you yourself might also need to weather and endure your own storm.

I am the storm. I embody the storm. I endure the storm. As everyone does, in their way.

Perhaps this is a more meditative perspective to this expression, but it feels more complete to me now.

Steve D