Posted By Ashley Riley,
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Updated: Monday, April 20, 2026
Easy On Me began as a personal plea to be gentler with myself and grew into a broader message of empathy for the collective heaviness we’re all living through. 2025 was a rough year personally and as I was slowly making my way back to a new normal, I noticed myself getting irritated for still feeling sad and uncertain. I eventually had to admit that my heart had been broken by the unexpected turns of the year. As I sat with that I remembered a quote by Elizabeth Lesser that said, “How ironic that the difficult times we fear might ruin us are the very ones that can break us open and help us blossom into who we were meant to be." That idea helped me allow the feelings of tenderness and vulnerability that had previously made me feel weak. Strength isn’t always about pushing, sometimes it’s giving yourself grace so this song was written as a plea to take it easy on myself. As time passed it became clear that the message was bigger than my own story. We are collectively living in really heartbreaking and harrowing times but we are stronger together. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is to soften and take care of ourselves and each other. We have to stay human when life wants to harden us.