Music When we're growing up,
We're told by parents,
Teachers and other adults about our odds of success.
We're pitted against each other and our grades and competitions continuously showcase who's winning the odds and who isn't.
Media and governments constantly shining a light on those who are more successful against those who didn't have the odds.
Or so they say.
We're told which professions have more likelihood of success and which are just plain silly if we want to put food on the table.
The arts are downplayed and accounting is way up.
When we're little,
We're encouraged to be whatever we want.
You're a lion,
A fairy,
A pirate.
You wave magic and play with dolls.
You live in a world where anything is possible and nothing is out of reach.
Then it seems all of a sudden we're expected to behave a certain way.
You'll never become a successful artist,
They say.
The odds of feeding your family are minuscule.
You'll never be on Broadway,
They say.
The odds are so very slim.
Only a small percentage make it.
Once in my 30s,
I began to see the intersection between the odds and the lies that were told.
People do make it,
Though.
People get to do what they love all the time.
I grew up being told to get a smart job,
But now I know that was fear speaking.
That was the generations before them coming through the adults before me.
Could you imagine a world where people didn't seek their dreams because they were told the odds weren't good?
And believed it?
What if it's got nothing to do with the odds,
But simply to do with timing?
What if it's not time for you to hit your peak at 25,
But instead at 52?
What if the world needs you to do what you love and leave the odds within the hearts who fear breaking the mold?
We've been conditioned to not question,
To fall simply within a box set by religion,
Society,
And more.
But when people pursue the things that make them happy,
Where they're not stuffing themselves into a box that doesn't quite fit,
Then how does their world look?
Could you imagine if we all pursued what we wanted in some way,
Without worrying about the odds made up by assumptions?
How the world might just look.
Allowing the freedom of expression and love and happiness against all the odds.
So my love,
Forget the odds.
Forget the rate of success that we're told by society.
Do it because you love to do it,
Not because it may or may not bring you something that looks different for everyone.
Success looks different for everyone.
And for you it could be so simple,
For another so much more involved.
But we listen to the subjectivity of another person whose view is painted by their personal experiences without living a day in your shoes.
So paint,
So write,
So dance,
So sing.
Do the thing you've always wanted to do and remember the person who imagined it was all possible.
Before the world took away the possibility of you doing what you were supposed to do.
Do the thing you've always wanted to do.
Do the thing you've always wanted to do.
Do the thing you've always wanted to do.
