Occupy Yourself

I had the great fortune recently to attend an intimate performance by a baroque ensemble who played music written by English court composers from back in the day. There were two violins, a soloist, and a lute player who offered their sweet sounds to an appreciative audience for an hour while we munched on a very fine lunch in a room lined with windows, wooden floors and comfy chairs.

At the end of the performance, I felt compelled to engage the gentleman lute player in conversation and find out more about his craft.

When I asked, he told me that there are probably 5 other people in the metro area who play the lute, and maybe a few thousand world-wide. He also volunteered that he plays guitar as well but that gigs for the lute pay better.

I was fascinated by these ratios.

And inspired, by yet another example of someone who followed their passion in spite of--I'm guessing--some pressure from various sectors of the peanut gallery in his family and elsewhere about how practical it was going to be to dedicate one's time and energy toward something so obscure, not to mention the how-will-you-ever-support-yourself factor.

Yet here he is, clearly doing so.

You might be spending time with folks during the next few weeks who aren't exactly your strongest champions.

They may not be able to extend their approval of you in ways that feel like approval.

While that might seem like a wonderful thing, even if it were to arrive by some miracle, it's not enough.

We would still be missing our own.

It's the one that counts.

It's the one that matters.

It's the one that makes the difference between you ever EVER being happy, and, well, not.

Happy means living and doing what we are meant to be living and doing.

Until we allow ourselves that freedom, we assume it's because permission hasn't been granted by someone or something outside of us.

And we continue to subject ourselves to relationship deja vu, job deja vu, money deja vu.

Give yourself permission to alter the status quo.

Occupy Yourself.