Last Saturday night at an open mic, I saw a man who had flapped his way into flying musically. A couple of years ago, he had hidden his handsome face under a cowboy hat, stared down at his guitar, mumbled his words, and hidden his light. Now, he stood upright, wore no hat, stood at the microphone rather than sitting, but most importantly, he looked at the audience and shared who he is. Everyone who had been in the class with me from a few years ago had blossomed in their own individual ways. And a few of the performers were so gifted and comfortable with their gifts that it made me cry. The joy and camaraderie of the group was remarkable.
Continuous flapping in the pursuit of your dreams can be daunting. You experience times when you think you have reached your limit of growth, and that you never will achieve what you were hoping to do. This could be true, but how will you know, if you stop flapping your wings? A friend of mine is a professional musician and instrumentalist. She works enormously hard at refining and expanding her techniques and her musical vision. I never have had that degree of focus and patience. There are many other ways that I spend my time and energy instead. Choices, choices, choices. None of us can “have it all”. But I am enormously grateful for the musical improvements I have been able to make in the last several years, with the help of people who are much farther down that road than I am.
I do believe that ego struggles are the worst obstacles on the path of change. Some people in the show of last Saturday are clearly more gifted or advanced than others. So what? If only professional level individuals were allowed to shine, the world would be a darker place. If only people beautiful enough to be models were allowed to strut their stuff, almost all of us would be hiding in the house. So go ahead and flap, shine and strut, enjoying the life you have been given and the sharing that is possible.
I’m posting a song I wrote called, “Living Wide Open.” Seeing people I know get on the stage and sing “wide open” is an inspiration.
Susan Rose: Singing Grandma 