Exile and Change
If someone had have said to me ten years ago that I would be going to bed on a Saturday night with a Taylor Swift song buzzing around my head, I would have laughed.
Moreover, if I had have heard that Kanye West had allegedly postponed his new album due to Swift surprise-releasing hers, I may have needed a seat.
That though is life in a nutshell.
Ideologies and beliefs we create become smoke due to the passage of time. Things we once thought set in stone and unbreakable, do just that; they break.
While Kanye West continues to break records in the fashion industry and proclaims himself to be worth 💲5bn dollars, let us not forget that it was only a few years back he was rapping about being broke and reaching out to software gurus to invest in him.
Swift was singing syrupy country songs and being bulldozed on stage by Mr West, yet now in 2020, she has written her masterpiece, 'Folklore,' and continues to be a champion of reinvention and overcoming adversity.
From the opening piano chords of 'Exile', it is clear we are listening to something special. Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame's bassy vocal covers the track like thick syrup, adding a welcome new dimension to this perfectly formed ballad.
I am pleased at this changing of the guard, as despite my deep-rooted and relentless support of Kanye,
I am a bigger supporter of change and in fact, perseverance which Swift has shown, quietly going about her business, amid the pomp and bluster. This is something I will need to implement as we deal with the change from trad publishing to indie publishing, something I whole-heartedly embrace and will discuss in a future post.
Eckhart Tolle says that human beings won't change unless they are forced to. I am lucky to have dealt with a lot of change, some good and some bad. I have generally written my way out of adversity, Sunny Sands, for instance coming hot on the heels of my divorce and subsequent estrangement from my five-year-old daughter, for instance.
We know live in a world where we are forced to change our practices and behaviours. It is too easy to dwell on the difficulties of change and not focus on the positives it brings.
Yesterday at my son's first birthday party, I watched both sides of the family sing 'All around the Kitchen', as my three-year-old danced. This wouldn't have happened four years ago and for this change, I am grateful and happy.
You can only embrace what happens in your life. Embrace the bad and learn from a mistake. After that, it ceases to be a mistake.
Exile and lockdown is good. It teaches us to appreciate.
Change is good, don't be afraid of it. It could be the making of you.