About 18 months ago, my son bounced down the stairs from his room beaming from ear to ear. He had heard an amazing new artist and couldn’t be more pleased at his “discovery”. I followed him up and together, we watched her youtube video. Her talent was undeniable and I would find out more recently, that her teachings (however unconscious) were even more meaningful.
For Christmas, we purchased tickets for the family to see Lindsey Stirling in concert. She was coming to a venue in our area and I thought my son would love it. He did. Her concert was unbelievable and her talent unquestionable, but what I took away from that night would forever change my worldview.
I occasionally show her early music video (attached below) with leadership teams that I work with. I love watching the audience’s reaction and I am sure it echoes mine the first time I saw it. Some are brought to tears, others remain speechless, many are moved beyond words and ALL are awestruck. At her concert, Lindsey shared a portion of her journey with the audience. 18 months ago, this talented young girl was told by record producers (do we still use this term?) that she was not good enough. Really? She was not good enough?
As she thanked her audience for making her famous through social media venues such as youtube, I was inspired by a new reality. So often, our fear limits our choices. It forces us to relinquish to old paradigms that seem stable and true, but actually are outdated and antiquated. We believe that what is stopping us is a true opinion others have projected unto us. Too frequently, this opinion becomes our reality. This was my first lesson that evening: nothing can hold back our passion and purpose. Sometimes, we just need to move past our own paradigms of what is and is not possible.
Her concert featured several others artists who “opened” for her. Like her, their fame has been driven by social media and an adoring public following. This became my second lesson of the evening: collaboration. From these artists radiated a core belief that we can all be successful if we support and collaborate with one another. Too often in our society, we hold and act on the perception that your success must equal my failure. We step over each other in the hopes that it will help us “get ahead”. Yet, our evolutionary survival has always been contingent upon supporting one another through cooperation and collaboration. Where did that message get lost? When did we begin accepting the belief that for me to win, you must lose?
That became my final gift from the night. A continued renewal and reminder that we can all be successful. There is room and space for everyone to show up and contribute their best. We have an ability (and actually an obligation) to move through our fear and support our deeper calling- despite all the barriers others throw up in front of us. The fears the others project do NOT need to become our reality.
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