Don't Loose Your Essence

Being in entertainment can be a confusing career. We always want to make people happy. Most of us start out with a clear definition of who we are and what we want but somewhere along the way we start trying to be all things to all people. Growth and change are always good things but only if they add too you. Don't loose your essence. What I mean by this is when your main goal is always pleasing others first, you will eventually loose yourself. I play with a LOT of people and I had to learn a long time ago that even though I want to be user friendly and accommodating, most people were only hiring me for who I was and what I would bring to their mix. I have worked with people that actually had less experience than me but they would try to tell me how to play this or that. Now I'm always respectful in any situation because I feel that we can always learn something from anyone but what I came to learn was people will make you doubt your own ability because of their own ignorance or insecurity. Yes I said ignorance but understand that this is not an insult. Being ignorant about something doesn't mean that you are not intelligent, it just means that you are less knowledgeable about a particular subject. Most people's egos won't let them admit that they just don't know everything so when they are in positions of power and influence they simply abuse the position. We have to always keep our essence as pure as we can. Being a professional sideman may work for some people but if your essence is more that of an artist then you have to seek out situations that will not attempt to quench who you are. It is important to always be humble and gracious but don't ever feel as if you HAVE to sacrifice who you are to be a part of ANYTHING. This is not only creatively destructive but physically and spiritually as well. Choose your projects and tasks wisely making sure they don't require you to sacrifice you. Enjoy the journey.

The Truth

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