Lauren Daigle mentioned that she experienced moments of anxiety as a child but said that anxiety didn’t dominate her. However, from the beginning of 2020 through the middle of 2022, she experienced the “highest amount of depression I’ve ever felt, the highest amount of fear I’ve ever felt, the highest amount of anxiety that I’ve ever felt,” all while she was writing the record.
The artist revealed that she had a series of panic attacks so severe she probably should have gone to the hospital. Once, she had a panic attack while on a plane, and the flight attendants actually brought out defibrillators and paperwork in case they needed to ground the plane if she had a heart attack.
Daigle said that there were a few strategies that enabled her to deal with her anxiety and come out on the other side of it without medication. One is that she learned to practice deep breathing exercises and would quote Scripture to herself as she did so. “If I’m feeling like I’m dying, but I have access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who created this world with breath, I’m going to say, ‘All right, God, I’m going to breathe, I’m going to breathe through this moment because you can give me life in this moment.’” But beyond simply breathing, Daigle also turned to the Holy Spirit and found the courage to move through her fear.
Daigle did acknowledge that she went through “such moments of chaos” at times that she needed people to quote Scripture to her when she couldn’t believe it herself. She said that having friends who can speak the truth is essential.
In addition to deep breathing, quoting Scripture, and having supportive friends, Daigle said that it was important for her to pursue joy. The Bible says, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.”
“There was a season where I really had to fight for joy,” said the artist. She would work hard to find joy in simple encounters, such as another person’s smile, and she encourages people struggling with depression to combat it by pursuing interactions with others.
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Daigle and Huff also discussed living authentically in the music industry, as well as living from a place of rest instead of frantic busyness.
When Daigle finds herself comparing herself to others on social media, she asks God to help her to be inspired by others but not to conform to them. God also helps her to identify where she is still living out of a “fear of man” so that she can pursue living in confidence in who she is.
“He can actually give you confidence in areas that you didn’t necessarily know you needed confidence in,” Daigle said, explaining that living in one’s purpose fosters this confidence. “There is something about finding your purpose that allows you to not necessarily look at people to validate you, but you start to say God, ‘Am I doing what you’ve called, is this the way that you want me to walk?’”
