Digital Vacation Day 3
TAKING THE MESSAGE LITERALLY
A lot of the time, making art of any type makes you want to quit. You go into a project thinking “this is gonna be revolutionary.” And then you watch as a few friends and family appreciate it… And sometimes that’s it.
But that doesn’t take the value away from what’s been created. You have to make art anyway. You have to express yourself anyway. You have to dance ANYWAY. It doesn’t matter if it’s perfect. It doesn’t matter if people love it!
We’re gladtons of people have now connected with this video. But that doesn’t change the song’s message or worth.
So here’s the video! We gathered a few friends and all danced one at a time in a dark empty theater. It was a little awkward! It wasn’t perfect! And that was the point.
When we had run out of favors to call on, we talked to some strangers walking past the theater – at first they walked away. Then they actually came back and joined us!
We’re very glad they did. It made the message a lot stronger! The whole point of the song is this: Things WILL be awkward and things WILL go wrong whenever you do something new. But you just have to do them anyway!
So here’s the video! We gathered a few friends and all danced one at a time in a dark empty theater. It was a little awkward! It wasn’t perfect! And that was the point.
When we had run out of favors to call on, we talked to some strangers walking past the theater – at first they walked away. Then they actually came back and joined us!
We’re very glad they did. It made the message a lot stronger! The whole point of the song is this: Things WILL be awkward and things WILL go wrong whenever you do something new. But you just have to do them anyway!
Okay, to make things REAL stupid sappy – I grew up with the mentality that guys have to do everything they can to make sure they can support a family. Which isn’t a terrible value to have!
But that value felt different when my dad lost his super stable job after like 10 years working there. There’s this really popular commencement speech by Jim Carrey, where he talks about a similar experience.
His dad wanted to be a comedian – but he decided to go for a stable career in accounting. Then he lost that job. The moral: “You can fail at what you don’t want, so you might as well take a chance on doing what you love,” as Jim put it.
The year following my dad losing his job, after being stuck in the same boring job for 3 years, I threw myself into making music headlong. I investing more time, money, and thought than is reasonable. I traveled across the east coast following my favorite artist’s tour to talk to all his fans. I got strangers to dance for a music video. I went all out.
This led to a new career in marketing thanks to what I had learned. Across platforms, probably over a million people have heard these songs and well… That feels good…. The point is, do what it takes to pursue something you really care about. The worst you can do is fail. And that happens anyway. The best that can happen is you can learn new things, and that has lifelong returns.
LYRICS
Talk it up or stare it down,
The broken dreams the worn down crown,
Taking all your garbage out,
One man’s trash another’s soul and heart,
I won’t be afraid of the dark
I won’t be afraid of your broken angry hearts,
I won’t be afraid of the dark
I won’t be afraid of your broken angry hearts,
Glass half full but pockets empty,
Open to the mindless possibilities,
Wear your craft on your sleeve
Button them and hang up your beliefs,
Rest your tired aching arms from this,
Let your expectations dangle on the couches precipice,
I won’t be afraid of the dark
I won’t be afraid of your broken angry hearts,
I won’t be afraid of the dark
I won’t be afraid of your broken angry hearts,
I won’t be afraid of the dark
Most of all your demons play the strings of broken hearts
I won’t be afraid of the dark
The lines of expectation fade when there’s nowhere else to run
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