Came across an incredible quote; when we fall, it’s tempting to seek out comfort…most find it in challenge—once there, it helps us overcome the act of feeling small.
The act of feeling small?
I can write it on two hundred sheets of white paper, type it onto four thousand computer screens, splash brilliant shades of paint onto a canvas taking the shape of it and in the end too much time and energy will be spent trying to be tall in a very small world.
I’m 6’1’’ inside a 320,000 foot radio career and just like standing below the unforgettable glaciers proudly displayed on the Red Lodge Mountains of Montana…there’s nothing I can do that’s going to change the face of what’s been here well before my time.
That doesn’t make me a quitter. It’s being truthful the artist in the way of giving him permission to seek out other means of creative flow.
I shared this conversation with producer/musician Alan yesterday who wanted to know why I don’t feel fear putting my art on display—be it the music, canvas’s, radio shows, writing and anything else that gets this hunk of trash out of my chest and out into a realm of reality.
Does it make me feel tall in a very small world to be so creative? Put my pieces near someone who truly studies the craft and you’ll instantly see I’m nothing more than a white belt on a careless journey. During my current two week stint in a real recording studio putting real music together one instrument at a time, the 31 years of experience I have in radio means nothing to the world of music. If anything being open with my creative flow makes me feel shorter than short that sports a short shirt on a shirtless summer day.
The moment you stop growing…life no longer has new air to breathe. Your body is left sucking the wind out of a chewed up straw you elected to pickup on a windy day somewhere near Ocean Blvd in Myrtle Beach.
Being humble takes years if not lifetimes to accept. Once there…an unnamed river takes your dreams and plants every seed along side a shore that’s always been there but we’ve been too blind to take note of how beautiful mud really is.
A Tae Kwon Do Master from Greensboro, NC might hold the key as to why I tend to throw a lot of me onto the streets of hard knocks, oversaturated opinions and unkind finger gestures. He says, “Never say you cannot do a thing. Never say cannot.”
By challenging yourself to take a risk…a freshly unwrapped spring green leaf pops its head out of your finger prints and calmly says, “Are you my Mother?”
“Yes!” You shout out making sure your body rocks like a hurricane. “Come with me my little green friend! Let me show you the world! It begins with you telling me your name and dream.”
Even if you travel 1/1000th of an inch…its farther than where you stood before accepting the vision quest to try something new.
This current songwriting and recording project I’m doing is the most idiotic decision ever made. Music isn’t my life or style. It’s a midlife crisis aimed at proving to the jerk in the mirror that age has nothing to do with time travel. Yes! They're using computers to tune me up. Yes they're having to rewrite the music because the original author has no clue what 4/4 time is. Yes my poetry is so far out there NASA wants to put me in the Pluto category. But it doesn’t matter…I did it.
When we fall, it’s tempting to seek out comfort…most find it in challenge—once there, it helps us overcome the act of feeling small.
Does that mean success can’t be experienced unless you’ve been driven face first into a pile of horse apples behind the barn? In today’s Hollywood that seems to be the cue to call. From rappers to actors if you aren’t making headlines it could be the end of the line. The message sent is a clear cut example of why crime is at an all time high…any press is good press just spell my name right. There’s always a book deal waiting for you at the end of the judge’s bench.
Rollingstone Magazine did their feature article last month on multi million dollar CD and download artist Lil Wayne before he went to prison. He’s doing time for carrying a gun. As small as that might seem in a world of weapons of mass destruction…the kingpin behind some of today’s most successful R&B releases won’t melt while away but will completely utilize the quote; when we fall, it’s tempting to seek out comfort…most find it in challenge—once there, it helps us overcome the act of feeling small.
Lil Wayne will be the man to watch two years from today. He’s not a quitter nor will he allow that vivid imagination that never sleeps to shut down within the walls that keep him from the only reality 98% of us know…commercialism. Music could be on the brink of being introduced to the new Marvin Gaye, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards or Montgomery Gentry.
Lil Wayne will challenge himself to be bigger in a much smaller world and the end result will be some of the most unforgettable music to add to your library book called life.
You can hate your job everyday and night but don’t hold it against yourself…the one lesson they never teach in high school or college is the art of being you.... When you start to listen to that inner you…things begin to move and it has nothing to do with bosses telling you what to do. While looking in the mirror stand on your tip toes…that’s all it takes to grow. A sip of effort.
When we fall, it’s tempting to seek out comfort…most find it in challenge—once there, it helps us overcome the act of feeling small.
Steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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