Epic Fail

After a lovely week in Hilton Head, South Carolina, I'm back in the buckeye state. What a great time we had! We had the whole family - including my parents, my sisters, my two nieces and the newest addition, the nephew. It was a much needed vacation from life, which we all need at times. Now being back in Columbus, I thought it would be a tough transition to get back in the "work" mindset - both in my day job and in music - but now that I'm back, I'm thinking that I'm going to be okay. 

One thing I realized from hanging with the kiddos is how much of life is trial and error and encountering failure. It didn't really hit me until thinking about this on the ride home. This is especially for kiddos but also applies to parents as well (although I can only base this off of what I see!) For the new-to-life human, it seems like they are often figuring out what adults are doing. This "How are they doing what they are doing"...and "WHY can I not do that?" Or "when can I do that?" That leads to curiosity and exploration. Seeing them discover the beauty and intensity of ocean water reminded me of how scary it can be to seek something so new, foreign and unknown. So much of what they learn seems to be by experience - "successful" and "failed" experiences. 

Failure is crucial for development. And I'm terrible at pursuing failure. As we speak, one little thing I am trying to do is actively seek constructive criticism. Music is such a personal experience...and if I'm being honest, it's incredibly tough to pursue criticism. When the criticism is not pleasing to the ear, it's easy to take it personally. "If someone tells me that MY song can be done differently, then it's not MY song". Not true. It just means that someone wants to help make it better. 

The way I look at it - one person may have their opinion - BUT, if you're hearing that same opinion or perspective from other people, maybe that means there should be some amendments or changes. It doesn't mean you have to adapt your whole song, craft, passion to appeal to people, compromising your whole identity..but if you're life is to help express yourself AND appeal to people, there has to be an element of risk in seeking criticism, advice, and collaboration. And I for one need to improve in this balance of seeking more "failure" opportunities. Check out this Ted Talk for a cool project...conducted specifically on failure - "100 Days of Rejection" 

https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection 

A few updates! 

This Thursday 7/26 -I'll be hosting a worship/jam! Super low-key but if you're interested in coming out, bring an instrument and some worship song ideas! 

Next Sunday (7/29): I'll be playing at the Crest for a few hours (11 - 2 PM). Would love to see you there! I'll be playing some originals AND cover songs for you. 

Also, started tracking THREE more songs. The recording process...is a bit slower than I expected...mainly because of balancing everything in life! But, I'm still shooting for Fall of 2018 for the album release! 

Finally, keep me posted on how you are doing! Just shoot me an e-mail - let me know what's going on with you this summer. 

Peace and love, 

Benjamin

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