Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Forget the stars...wish upon yourself...

The most difficult part of the holidays is giving yourself permission to endure what so many push themselves through; the art of comparing what they have and don’t have with those we constantly assume will always have.

For instance, I will never live up to my stepfather; his house may not be a southern style mansion overlooking a valley of horses and big ole fluffy sheep but that guy that hangs out with Mom knows how to publically display his love. From opening the car door to holding hands at a restaurant to pulling off a slow dance at a nearby lake on the beach with the only music playing is what he hears in his heart.

Christmas shopping is no different. I find it extremely fascinating to stand in long lines eavesdropping on conversations about how Kelly’s getting this because Rhonda’s parents gave her permission to do that. And what about Kevin with that fancy cell phone that’ll do everything for him except flush the toilet…but give the makers of Droid another week…they can do anything.

I can’t help but wonder if snowflakes with their unique appeal and appearance have just as much zest to be recognized?

Author and nationally recognized social media guru Seth Godin explains that everybody, including your bucked toothed neighbor Jimmy the funky chicken Waterman has everything they need to build something far bigger than yourself.

Think about that…

If who we are today is willing to change, what’s keeping us from achieving bigger, better best by the weekend? What row did you say that’s in at Wal-Mart?

Technology is evolution. We’ve grown into a people that know something better is always a fingertip away and expect someone daily to take us to the newly designed promise land. We depend on others so much we’ve totally forgotten how to do it ourselves.

This is why it hurts so bad when our favorite professional sports teams keep losing, “Fix it! Fix it now! Where’s that receipt so I can take it back?”

Most retail stores allow you to bring back jersey’s, plastic bowls that once held potato chips and rubberized footballs that resemble Super Bowl textures but I’ve yet to meet the manager that’s gonna hand over the dollars spent on the physical team. The only way to win in the wonderful world of sports is to bring your game.

Everybody has everything they need to build something far bigger than yourself.

A wanna be video junky from Goose Egg, Wyoming can walk into his homemade studio above the garage and mix down pictures that Youtube can wrap around the planet two hundred thousand times moving entire nations to adopt everything from a new fad to putting focus on laws that offer peace of mind.

Godin uses the example of a teeter totter…on one side is a 300 pound wrestler being lifted without hassle by two kids playfully laughing a few feet over.

Without change we’d be hairy as can be Geico looking cave people trying to figure out how to warm up food.

It’s not difficult to redesign a path it’s holding true to the purpose that rips your efforts to shreds. How many projects do you begin that suddenly become fixtures in a box sitting in a closet, garage or the crawl space? Getting where we want to be versus where we need to be requires six cases of self support, love and three hundred years of belief. Hey American Idol is back in less than two months! Yes! What were we talking about?

In May of 2009 a stupid book idea hit me while cruising to the studio at four in the morning. That book is published and available worldwide which inspired me to pretend I was Bryan Adams and write a movie soundtrack. Ten songs deep into the sessions the studio producers have started inviting me to sketch out the lyrics to songs they’ve written. It doesn’t matter if I have success as long as the process allows me to have enough space to smile a real smile believing in real dreams.

I was completely blown away to learn that singer Kimberly Locke spent her childhood singing along with her battery operated Care Bears and believes harmonizing with those toys invited wishful thoughts of being live on stage in anyplace USA or the world. To which I ask you…what single most important thing did you do as a kid gave you tremendous amounts of happiness but because of peer pressure and a drive to be something that only rich people become you set it aside and now you’re spending your adult years wondering why you aren't happy?

I had a blue acrobatic elephant but you don’t see me working for a zoo. Oh wait I’m in radio! Truth is…I would grab my sister Margaret’s 8-tracks and 45’s and pretend I was a radio disc jockey like Major Dan Miller, Alan Moss and Kurt Anthony on KOOK. The only reason why any of this happened was because Lonnie Bell at KOYN said yes to the child with a humungous way way out there dream to speak one on one to someone who might be tuning in at this very moment. Instead of saying, "Here's another four in a row," I calmly asked, "What can we do to make your day better?"

Thirty two years later I marry couples.
Everybody has everything they need to build something far bigger than yourself.

I will always believe in you first…

arroecollins@clearchannel.com

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