There seems to be a growing obsession that has taken over our society in the past couple of months in the ways we have used individualized theme songs to summarize our lives.

Apparently, in the evolving quest for personalized definitions, the need for a musical theme song to clarify who we truly are has begun to take hold.

Having a personalized theme song started drawing wider attention on a March 1998 episode of “Ally McBeal.”

The main character (as usual) was having a rough time in her life and needed any type of an anchor to maintain personal stability.

As a suggestion from her doctor, she was told if a favorite song was used as her own theme, it could help her feel a sense of individualized empowerment.

The song was “Tell Him,” an early 1960s hit single by the Exciters. It made Ally feel like a pure survivor.

Well, the personalized theme song (via “Ally McBeal”) could have faded into oblivion, like the “Dancing Baby” episode.

Several weeks later, it was a topic on “Oprah Winfrey” when she asked the members of her audience if they had a theme song of their own.

In typical “Oprah” fashion, they certainly did.

These audience members had an individualized musical tune to feel connected to while overcoming the ups and downs of day-to-day living.

Even I could not escape from the musical theme song obsession presently sweeping this country.

Since we all need a great song of personalized significance to put our lives into some kind of orderly perspective, that can be a very good thing.

Like “Ally McBeal,” I too have a personalized theme song (actually, there are several of them) which keeps me well-focused when everything else goes completely wrong.

My personal theme songs are drawn from my own life experiences as positive reminders to remain focused at all times and don’t ever become sidetracked by lots of overwhelming distractions.

A special song can make anything seem OK in life.

If you don’t care for significant songs as tools of empowerment, there are other sources to develop a sense of association within yourself to remain individually centered in our globally conformist society.

Having an individualized theme can be adopted from using spiritual readings that are found in either an affirmation or biblical scripture closely related to your own life experiences.

Other ideas for a theme can be acquired throughout numerous creative areas of the arts, such as dance, literature and the theater.

No matter how much searching a person is willing to undergo in reinventing one’s own moral structure, building a solid spiritual foundation, maintaining conscientious mind-body health, economic well-being and social respectability, the main pieces of life are irreparable.

Once damaged, they cannot be put back together again. Just ask Humpty Dumpty.

A meditative journey into one’s soul could be embarked, but not too many people are openly willing to sift through all of the layers to reach it.

Being in the opposite arena, it can be very easy to sacrifice your real identity for another that could never be comfortably yours.

Security (as well as stability) where none really exists is increasingly becoming unavailable. We are also overly obsessed with a driven need to connect by entering into meaningful or painful relationships to avoid becoming isolated within a crowd.

Isolationistic environments are created by people who fear risk by refusing to extend themselves.

It reflects modern society as we live in mobile communities which foster social disconnection, encourage fractured family relations, religious conflict and questioning, economic instabilities and alarming health concerns at a very high price.

That’s the world we elect to live in today, an instantly gratified “quick-fix” culture which doesn’t take time out for a theme song.

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Adrian De Vore is a senior in hotel, restaurant and institution management from Newark, N.J.