Corrupted passions and dreams

Once you find something you love doing, hold on to it and keep doing it, never let it go and never let your love for it die down. The pleasure in turning something you love into a career is not easily described but it does feel very good. Especially when people around you appreciate it for what it is. You find a sense of fulfillment through it.

We have heard the above mentioned advice over and over again but the truth that people hardly mention or recognize is this. The flame of that passion can still burn low or even die out completely. It all depends on how you handle it and how much you attach to it. 

     

    Picture waking up everyday and going out to do that thing you say you love doing so much. Let's say for example that your passion is singing and you just started your career as a singer. You release your first solo and it's a major hit. It's a big hit regardless of the fact that you did it purely out of love for music and you made the kind of music you love making. Somehow people seemed to like it and it feels really good to know that. Your second solo is another hit and before you know it you are receiving endorsements and different offers and contracts. The money is rolling in and it just seems like you cannot be stopped at that point, everything seems to be working out. You release your first album and regardless of what critics say, you prove them and your enemies wrong, it's a platinum hit and you are balling. You are making music that you love making, touching people with your lyrics and you just can't imagine a better life.

Alright, now a while after your first album you are back in the studio. You are recording a new solo and after a while it's completed and released to the public. It's not much of a success like the first ones but you decide to give it another shot, the second one is also a miss. You compile and release your second album regardless and it's a big disappointment in the market. From there it's a nose dive and the money is coming in but not as much as it used to. Frustration begins to set it and you get desperate. What happens next, you start looking to "give the crowd what they want". But you also forget that there is a reason why you got into this in the first place and that your first success was purely out of luck. You have already let the fame and fortune corrupt your love for music and from there you change your pattern. You start making music to please the crowd, but let me tell you what's most likely to happen. Since you aren't exactly good at making the kind of music that everyone likes, the other artists that are good at doing just that, make more wave than you and you are left at the bottom of the fame train. At the same time you loose your few true fans who truly related to the message you sent in the lyrics of your first song or those who really understood your music the way you wanted it to be understood. You loose out on both side.

Now I'm using music as an example but try to envision yourself in this situation, just put yourself in this shoe. Picture whatever you love doing and substitute it with the music that I mentioned. Be it football, medicine, engineering, art or any other thing you love. Done? Alright let's keep going...

So how do you keep your cool, stop yourself from getting frustrated and keep the flame of your passion burning? It's easy, do not let any other thing corrupt your reason for doing what you do. Always, I repeat, ALWAYS, remember the first and original joy you got from doing what you loved initially. Remember that you didn't care if it touched only two or three people out there. But that as long as a few people liked and appreciated it for the right reason, you were satisfied. Remember the reason you do what you do.

    Do not let the original success or the monetary gains of previous projects corrupt something you love. Your previous endeavors, though done purely out of true love for your passion, they got you somewhere, they gave you fame and fortune, yes. But never forget that it was just out of luck and that it might have been a one time thing.  If you allow yourself to give into frustration, there is a chance that you would contemplate following the path every other person takes to make a big name for themselves and of cos gather riches. You then stand the risk of losing out on two ends. Think about it, there is a reason you do what you do. And the reason why you do it as well as you do. is because of your pure love for it. Now if you allow that pressure to push you to do what others do, you might not be able to do it as well as they do it. Therefore you stand the risk of losing out on the joy and love of doing what you love doing and also losing out on what other are doing.

How to balance this out? We already have artists that know how to do this and practice it everyday. Look at 2face Idibia for example. I believe that in his albums, he includes music that everybody wants to hear, but then if you listen to every single track you would still hear the ones that he really sat down and put his soul into. You would be able to differentiate the tracks that are from 2face and the the ones from Innocent Idibia. I still say it, my most played Nigerian song from last year was "Dance in the rain" by him. I still get goose bumps listening to that song. So I believe this is the best thing for you to do. Not just to the artists and upcoming artist, I am talking to anyone out there with something they truly love. Learn to blend it, give them what they want but still and always maintain your love for what you do. That way, when things don't work out very well at a point, you aren't driven to corrupt your passion because of desperation

Even if it's a few people that understand what you do, do it for the best reason know to you. If you need the fame and fortune desperately then look for another means to acquire that. But for your own good, to keep your sanity and still have something pure and genuine to fall back to in this world. For those days when you just want to get away from the madness that the world put you through everyday. Never let your true passion get corrupted, never let the flame of that passion die.  

 Now all I can hope for is that one celebrith will just see this and be inspired then tweet with my web link. Choi! Ask Ralph will be everywhere.  No wahala sha, Hope dey!. 2015 must not pass us. Lol