The Life and Times of an Aspiring Creative
Hi guys!
It has been a while since we had a session. As I will explain in subsequent lines, this has not been my doing entirely. Okay, maybe a little bit. That’s life though. The ups and downs; the wins and the losses. Over the last couple of weeks though, I have taken a ton of losses. It’s crazy. It’s like life just flipped the switch and went “you don’t seem to know how good you’ve got it, how about we show you the flip side, huh? How you like me now?!”
As you’ve probably guessed, not very much. I told you about how I quit my lucrative job in the Banking Industry in pursuit of my career in Architecture. In hindsight, I wish it was a pursuit of a music career, man. Maybe I for don blow by now. You know, Omah Lay and co. However, much like the beginnings of a career in Music, my career in Architecture has started pretty much the same.
You know how it goes: a few gigs here and there. Not being able to hold down a permanent spot where people can come and enjoy your music and appreciate your genius. Moving from place to place and sleeping on friends’ couches half the time. Let’s not forget the days of hunger and thirst. Basically, living life like a bankrupt without actually going bankrupt because you’ve never had money anyway!
That’s how things have been since the beginning of May. I’ve gotten in touch with a few clients but nothing concrete. They all seem to flee at the sound of a professional bill. Like my friend Dotman said in his song ‘Enugbe’ “Kosi manager but mo manage.” Story ma change sha, E sure me die. It’s only a matter of time. For how long, though? I visited my former place of work to explore the possibility of returning. I ended up having a much-needed discussion with a mentor (Deji doesn’t know he’s one of my mentors yet so don’t loud it).
He told me something along the lines of you’re getting it right by pursuing your career, don’t get it wrong again by taking a detour. It is like hunting a tiger and along the line stumbling on a deer and deciding; let me hunt this deer for a bit, I’ll chase the tiger later. Not the best strategy and I’m sure you would agree. You can never underestimate the power of focus. Have you seen what happens when you channel a ray of light through a magnifying glass? Suddenly it has enough power to burn through stuff. That’s the power of focus.
Okay, he didn’t say all of that but part of it. You do get the point though, right? I’m hunting a tiger here and chasing deers at the same time. How long will it take to catch the tiger? So, based on this, I’ve decided to stick to the tiger’s tail. After all, what shall it profit a man to settle for less and lose his focus?
So here I am living on my mother’s couch and surviving on less than a dollar a day. It could have been something different. Picture an artist or a musician waiting for his big break. Many times, the artist may go months or years without anything concrete and then he becomes an overnight sensation. People then start to wonder where this genius has been all this time and why hasn’t he come to the limelight before now. Well, it has to do with a couple of things and I can explain.
You’re probably too young to know what the Beatles sounded like in their prime and how much of a cultural revolution they became. You are however old enough to appreciate their legend and revere them as much as millions do all over the world. Before they became the famed Beatles, however, they were simply a boy band looking to make it big someday. This required looking for gigs all over the country and later, the continent.
Their chance will eventually come when they were the headline act at a cafe in Germany (not exactly sure but stay with me). They then started to perform for hours on end on a nightly basis for a number of years. As Malcolm Gladwell describes in his book ‘Outliers’, this was where they honed their now-legendary skills and talent. They performed long enough to become great and eventually, they made it big. From Liverpool to the world.
That’s what I’m out here trying to achieve. Legendary status like the Beatles and even more than that. I’m trying to win a Pritzker Prize for Architecture and perhaps the hardship of the past few weeks made me lose sight of that but, I’m back on track and on my way. That’s the metaphorical tiger I’m hunting and until the prize is won, we keep going. Onward together like the Nigerian Navy, or perhaps alone but onwards regardless.
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. This is how I live my life now and nothing else matters. In the words of a legend and role model:
I live my life a quarter-mile at a time. Nothing else matters; not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I’m free.
This might take a bit longer than ten seconds but, for however long it takes, don’t you want to be free?
