Why is helping people important to me; Who are they?

Most musicians, these days, see the internet as the way to go.. make some recordings, get a few sample tracks online, publicise their release, get the wheels turning on their career, start making money, and, hey presto! a fast track to musical fame and fortune… that’s their goal, fame and fortune.

Now and then, you’ll come across one or two that don’t see fame and fortune as all they’re cracked up to be. I’m one of those few. So, what do I want? What do I see as important? Where do I want to go with my music? 

Well, it’d be nice to be rich, let’s not kid ourselves, here, but it’s unlikely I’ll get to be..so, I reason, why bust my ass trying to achieve that unlikely goal, when I can find my reward in other ways, ways worth busting my ass for..

I started writing songs for reasons entirely unrelated to money. As I’ve said in previous posts, my early songs  were written to help a friend. It was the only way I knew how to help, at the time, through our mutual love of music..  Quite coincidentally, the writing process became a therapy for me too, as did all the creative aspects of putting together a CD of original work, entirely on my own. I found myself writing lyrics, melodies, playing the instruments, singing, recording, producing, designing artwork, taking photographs, and writing prose.. I even started looking at marketing and publicity, and put together a basic, and somewhat homely website.. I did it myself, because no one I knew had the motivation I had, and because I simply wanted to, and I realised that doing that stuff helped me..it was hugely therapeutic. If it was therapeutic for me, I realised, it would be for others..and the therapeutic benefits of completing something worthwhile, from nothing more than idea, are manyfold.  There are thousands of people, millions maybe, out there who could do what I did, or something similar.. It may be poetry, art, photography, writing, making pots..whatever..but many of those people don’t know how, or don’t have the self belief to feel they can do the sort of things they so admire when created by someone else.. I start from a simple premise:

Most people are more creative than they believe they are, but don’t know how to release their creativity, and don’t have the self belief and motivation to try. Moreover, they don’t know where to start or how.

That was me, for many years. It took a a severe bout of clinical depression to get me off my backside and into my work, doing something positive to help myself and others…. a combination of circumstance, unhappiness and need gave me the kick start I needed;  it has rewarded me with enormous satisfaction, confidence, and self belief. I didn’t know, when I started writing and recording my album, whether or not I could do it. I had an idea I could, but that was all. Well, I could do it, and I did do it; I wrote, performed, recorded and completed a Country Music album, with no help from anyone but myself.. 

Interestingly, the biggest reward from all this came to me, not when I had finished the record, but during the process of making it, during the act of creation.. it was then that I came to start loving myself, life and people, once again. Loving yourself is not about pride, arrogance, self egrandisment, or any of that clat trap. It is about humility, and acceptance of your true nature, it is, maybe, the first step to understanding your own humanity, the humanity of others, the first step, a prerequisite, toward loving other people.

So, why do I want to help others? Once, I was very unhappy, and now, I’m not. I’m a better person than I was, a much happier person, and a better, happier world needs better, happier people. I received a gift..something I didn’t know I needed, the gift of creativity. Best part of all, though, is that it’s a gift I already had, and all I ever had to do was give it to myself. If it’s like that for me, it’s probably much the same for other people. Those simple truths are my motivation… For me, there was no road to Damascus moment, it was a gradual, dawning of realisation. Well, I’m sharp in some ways, a bit slow in others..I’m just a human, so, whatever.

Who do I want to help? I’ve already told you, but it bears repitition:

Most people are more creative than they believe they are, but don’t know how to release their creativity, and don’t have the self belief and motivation to try. Moreover, they don’t know where to start or how.

That’s them. Those’re  the folks I want to help, and those that I think I can.

I asked, earlier, where do I want to go with my music? Well, I want to get better at it..I write decent songs, I think, and produce decent recordings, as things stand, but they aren’t great, my songs and recordings.. I want to become really, really good at both. In time, I want to earn a modest living, doing the thing I love most, full time. Along the way, I want to see other people happier, moving in the same kind of direction as me.. I want the world to be better, happier, for you, me, and the people we care about. We can all help that to happen..and I want to do my share..

George Bolam

http://inzanecountry.co.uk