Quitting - Its Not An Option

The saddest thing in the world to me is when I hear from a singer who's been on this list for years who tells me that they're quitting singing because it just got too tough, too painful, too disappointing!

Oh, that just about breaks my heart.
Okay, I see some your eyes rolling back into your heads. I do it myself when some web marketer gets all gooey and sentimental about his customers, (and I think "yeah, right...so what are you selling me today!")

So, yes, I know. We may not be intimate friends so my concern about one of you quitting, and my the use of terms like "breaks my heart" might sound shallow to many of you, and I can understand that.

But from my perspective, even if we have never met face to face, some of you are dear friends of mine and you know who you are. I tell you things that I don't even share with my family members. We may talk for hours on the phone or by IM.
But I digress...that's not really the point I am making.

My point is this. I believe....NO WAIT! It's not a belief! It's a knowing right down to the depths of my soul that we are all connected, and that we are all energy! But you don't have to believe any of this to understand my point.
The funny thing about believing is that a belief is assuming something to be a fact. But it isn't!

A belief about a thing's existence is not the same as its actual existence.

Years ago people believed the world was flat. It wasn't. It isn't. There are still people who believe that the flight of Apollo 11 was a hoax, all done with special effects, (that didn't even exist in 1969, btw).

People may believe all sorts of things that are just NOT true. Believing doesn't make something true and real, although it may make it true for one believing it, but that's not reality! That's a false belief! There might be someone who believes that 2+2=5. Does that belief by that person make it true? No. And we sometimes even put people who believe that into institutions and try to help them change their false beliefs because believing is a choice after all, that can be changed.

Remember when we believed in Santa? and the Tooth Fairy? Do we still? Beliefs are a choice that we can change. But when something is actually true like 2+2=4, then whether we believe it or not, it REMAINS TRUE! That's a Universal Law!

YOU know...like gravity. We don't have to believe it works for it to work, do we? It just DOES! It works! It's a Universal Law!
So getting back to the sadness I feel in my heart when a singer quits, it's like this. Removing a voice from the song of humankind...well that's just a huge loss from my perspective! If we are all connected in this energy "soup", then there's a negative ripple effect each time a singer breaks his own heart by quitting.

And if that weren't sad enough, the REAL damage is when by quitting, the singer is pushing the very future he/she is dreaming about further and further away.

The Universal Law of Cause and Effect tells us that what we think about is what we experience in life. And that if our experiences are not what we wish for them to be, it is necessary to change your thoughts to more closely match that wish we desire to experience. And to not just think the desired thought, but add high emotion as well. Emotion after all, is Energy in Motion!

It's called the "Act As If" method, or as the Bible says, "As You Think, So You Are". We are magnets, people, and we attract what we think about.
Assuming for a minute that this is true, (for it most assuredly IS), can we then see how the singer quitting something he/she truly loves is bound to effect the things he/she is thinking, and subsequently impact his/her experience?

If the singer has been so disappointed to the point of grief and therefore quits singing, he/she will undoubtedly experience more and more grief and disappointment as time passes, so nothing is helped by the this mental state.
Whereas...what if the singer refused to be disheartened and disillusioned and instead continued to sing simply for the sheer pleasure and joy it brings?

Hate to get "cliche-ish", but after all, 'Ol Tommy Edison DID endure thousands of disappointments before he got that light bulb to turn on, right?
Doesn't it make more sense for our unhappy singer to continue singing if indeed it brings joy into his/her experience?
And wouldn't it then be more likely to also bring success as well?

Read this quote out loud!

Words make you think a thought. A symphony makes you feel a feeling. But a SONG makes you FEEL a THOUGHT.

Oh, I really love that statement about songs, don't you? I mean, the words plus the melody plus the rhythm, all of those together that can literally raise our emotions to another place, even if for just an instant! No other art form can do it in exactly the way a song can.

One of you wrote to be some years back to tell me that you sing because it makes you feel one with all nature. Another one of you has remarked that you sing because you can't NOT sing! It's who you are... your calling!

And still another of you wrote me the most eloquent description of your relationship with singing, telling me that just as the runner MUST run to commune with God, for you singing is like meditating, like praying.
What I want to know is, if singing is your life, makes you feel wonderful, one with the whole universe, why the heck would you quit doing it?

What? Oh, you mean that because you haven't been signed to a major label yet, you just want to quit altogether?

Okay, well, I know a little about this. I have definitely BEEN THERE!

I once let myself buy into a more practical point of view (foisted upon me by well-meaning family and friends), that doing what you love is okay as a hobby, but no one can actually make a living at it.

HOG-WASH! You heard me correctly! It's BUNK, pure and simple and spewed by occluded individuals who'd give their right arm to be able to do what we do...lift people's spirit to the heavens, make 'em stand up and cheer, cry, screech, holler, and altogether demonstrate their enthusiasm for life itself!

I just read recently that 85% of one's overall happiness comes not from our accomplishments or our bank accounts, but from our relationships with others. Our interactions and connections with the rest of humanity. Have you ever felt that connection when you're performing? Can you beat that feeling?

But sure, you can quit singing and take a day job and make a bunch of money, but is that going make you as happy as singing does?

I'm a baseball fan so once again, please excuse the analogy here. But just how many World Series Championships would my NY Yankees have won if every time Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle, or Roger Maris struck out at the plate, they resigned from the team altogether?

Quitting is never an option, singers! Just a little more focus on the goal, and a little more gratitude for the talent we've been blessed with, and we start to LOVE what we do, and the love grows and we are living our passions, or following our bliss, as Joseph Campbell put it.

And then success comes...when we are peaceful and simply grateful for our gifts and freely sharing them with others.

Trust me on that one.