The Stirling Effect

Recently, me and a few of my friends went to a Lindsey Stirling concert. It was the first concert I’ve been to in years. I have loved her music since the first time I heard her play the electric violin. She was foot stomping, bass thrumming, violin picking awesomeness resulting in The Stirling Effect.

As she played and danced song after song, I was amazed at her stamina. I mean really? Who can dance and play the violin and jump around stage all at the same time?

One song and visual effect faded in and out in rapid succession and the crowd loved it. It was a packed house and the vibe from the crowd fed to the band on stage.

About an hour into the concert, Lindsey slowed everything down — for the audience to catch their breath, as well as for her and her band. It was a welcome bit of a breather which you rarely find in current music venues. She told us about how she got into music playing a few songs which made us all laugh.

When she was done that segment, she told us a story about a friend who past much too young and unexpectedly. Her new album Brave Enough is about her journey from his presence in her life, to his leaving earth, to where she is now.

As the next few songs unfolded, she took the time to explain about never giving up your dreams. Her journey to the stage before us was not easy and plenty of people along the way told her to stop, she wasn’t good enough, she wasn’t — {fill in the blank}.

My interpretation of the album took on a whole new meaning.

In the last part of the concert, her words echoed all to familiarly in my ears. They weaved through my thoughts of late. This pep talk, this mirroring of thoughts reminded me that to some small extent, I have given up lately.

While I have not lost a dear friend, nor am I trying to break into the music industry, I am fighting to stay the course. I am struggling to write and make meaning of my writing.

Is it worthwhile? Why can’t I find the words? Why can’t I be like before, where I could sit and write for hours? Why aren’t my characters coming to life?

It’s funny how you can look at someone else’s life and see it for what it is, but miss that in

[media-credit name=”C3Concerts” link=”https://www.writingrants.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Lindsey-Sterling-310×207-300×200.jpg” alt=”The Stirling Effect” width=”416″ height=”277″ />[/media-credit] Lindsey Stirling

your own life. I identified with her waxing poetic, but I didn’t realize I was off track again until the words were spoken out loud.

 

It’s not that I haven’t been writing lately, it’s more that it seems like a chore versus the fun it used to be. I don’t have a cheerleading squad encouraging me, so it’s easy to let the negativity and doubt creep in.

Last night,towards the end of a spectacular concert, Stirling reminded me what it felt like to be alive when I write. That not only should you follow your own path, but ignore the voices of doubt and negativity. What she didn’t say, but I extrapolated, was that the doubt and negativity you need to ignore is not only from external sources, but also from inside.

Life is not fair and it can be hard, but you need to pick yourself up, find what you love to do and try again. Don’t give power to other people or your internal destructive thoughts.

We are all brave enough to be the best version of our self. So what is it you want to be?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.