So Hunter Hayes performed his song “Invisible” on the ACM Awards last night. Did you see it?
http://youtu.be/0lrujZorOOo
I can’t say that I’m a huge Hayes fan. I just haven’t heard much of his work, but this performance last night had me enraptured. There was something about the way the lyrics mixed with the instruments and the artist and the setting and the audience. To me, it felt like magic. So many people and so many experiences and talents had to all come together in one place to create this moment that we could all get lost into and relate to.
And it made me think.
It’s hard to create. It’s hard to write or draw or sing or paint or sculpt or I imagine do pretty much any creating. It’s scary. It’s a risk. Putting yourself out there. Finding your truth. Facing your truth. And then taking your individual, personal truth and turning it into art that makes it everyone’s truth.
The thing is that we are all given stories. Some we relish and some we just try to breathe through. It’s these stories that help turn us into who we are. And some people are given the ability to tell their stories in ways that speak to us and touch us, in ways that bypass the walls that separate us so that the communication doesn’t happen between two people but rather between two souls.
It’s these creators who take their stories and mold them and shape them and hand them over to us, vulnerable and open, who help turn us into who we are. Their risks are our rewards. Their blessings bless us and their pain makes us into better, more human people. Because the truths in their stories can be found within us all. They just show us theirs and in turn help us find our own.
And so to all the creators out there who speak to my soul — the artists and the musicians and the writers and the lyricists and the storytellers and the cultivators — thank you.
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I was taking part in Momastery’s Beautiful Messy Warrior Project. I’ve spent the day reading through many of the other submissions, and they are truly remarkable. Consider heading over there and spending some time with these women. You’ll be glad you did.