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Award season pretty much is a wrap. Oscars, Golden Globes, Screen actors, Grammy’s, all fading into history until next year. Bravo and goodbye.
For all parties, suspense, accolades, and red-carpet walks, the one thing that is consistent, each and every nominee, and even those who’ve been shunned, stepped up to the plate, focused, and intentionally did the thing they’ve been called to do on the planet – live the life without apologies, and follow their calling.
Have they felt fear?
Of course. Did they second guess themselves? Absolutely. Were they afraid to step into the unknown? You bet your ass. Each artist – actor, director, musician, producer – is human and full of flaws and self-doubts, yet, they persevered.
They’ve come face-to-face with the self-doubts, played on the stage of comparison, and stared deeply into the glass of this work sucks. Overwhelmed by the machines of their respective industries, they either sink or swim, knowing full well at any given time they might become yesterday’s headline. All the while being driven. Driven to succeed, even if it doesn’t mean a stroll down red-carpet way to a hallowed first three rows hallowed nominee seat.
Which begs the questions, how do they do it? What is the motivation? How do they define what it means to give the performance of their life? All questions that invoke the question, “Are you giving the performance of your life?”
While you may not be pursuing an Oscar, it’s ironic you are constantly being challenged to play the lead actor in your life. Take a stand, hold to your values, do what you believe you’re meant to do on the planet. You are the lead of your life, even though all too often you choose to play the supporting actor role that others have assigned you, or that you blindly accept as your role in life. If this doesn’t feel right, maybe it’s time to ask yourself, “Am I the lead or supporting actor in my life?”
Of course, we cannot have this metaphorical conversation about how life imitates art, without exploring the role of directors and producers in our own lives. Without these ever-critical players, not one award-winning film, nor a multi-platinum album ever would be produced, without a producer bankrolling the project, and a keen directors eye delivering the nuanced moment that takes a film scene from good to utterly jaw-dropping. Yet, all too often, we hold everything external of ourselves to direct and produce the life we desire, and then wonder why our life is less than award-worthy.
Shall I go on with this diatribe of how you write the script of your life? Of course, I shall. From cinematographers to musical score/composition. Sound engineers to best new artist. Costume
and makeup to best album for (fill in the blank). Each and every category is a reflection of how us guys create the movie, musical, and rhythms of our lives.
Cinematography – the lens we choose to look at life through, all it’s beautiful and chaotic angles, leading us to either see life in black and white or through the myriad of colorful possibilities of what our lives can be.
Musical score/composition – the beat and rhythm that inspires us to dance through life instead of laying comatose, desperately waiting for someone to write the music score for us rather than taking ownership to write our own life anthem.Sound engineer – balancing, adjusting, equalizing the audio effects of our thoughts, then mixing, reproducing, and reinforcing of the positive sounds of our lives, rather than allowing the negative levels of our thoughts to orchestrate a life less-lived.
Costume and make-up – paying homage to the person we most are, as we are, no costume nor make-up required.
Categorically speaking, awards season, in and of itself, is a life lesson. An opportunity to delve into the depths of the human experience of winning and losing. To explore our life meaning through the lens of art. It is a season where social justice challenges us to look at how we show up, and, if we show up, fully aligned in our values.
When awards are relegated to purpose, the purpose being, did I have an impact, change a life, help someone see something they haven’t seen, or move the consciousness of the planet forward through my art, it is then, that awards truly serve a purpose.
Which then begs the question, if you were being given an Oscar or a Grammy for the performances of your life, what would be your reason for striving for that award?
A man of impact?
A man of consciousness?
A man of compassion?
A man of goodness?
A man of integrity
Not only must we anticipate the words, “And the award goes to…,” it taps the deeper essence of our being on this planet to beg the question, “And why?”
Maybe that’s a whole new award show…The Why Awards!
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