Something was off last night. I’m not sure if it was the alignment of the stars, or a curse of the gods, or what… But everyone seemed to have canceled plans. One of my friends got stood up for a coffee date. A couple other friends had a canceled premarital counselling session. Another friend had to mysteriously leave town. And as for me… I had a gig, but the coffee shop I was going to play at was closed because the power went out, so the show was canceled (I’m so sorry if anyone showed up all for nothing).
This was disappointing. I love performing and I had been practising all week for this show. I was hoping to make new fans and maybe even sell some CDs. But alas, no such luck.
There are a lot of disappointments in the early stages of a music career (or probably any career, for that matter). In my experience, I’ve been disappointed by canceled shows, by not getting replies from venues, by slow CD sales, by rejection, by playing wrong notes, by forgetting lyrics, by seeing others with more success, and by much more. And this is only the third month since my CD release. I wonder how many disappointments I’ll have had five years from now.
Disappointment is the feeling that comes when expectations aren’t met. Some people might be tempted to lower their expectations in order to avoid disappointments, but I think that’s a mistake. High expectations drive you to work hard. If you have a dream, you need to set goals and take the proper steps to acheive them. But you need to realize that there will be many disappointments along the way. What separates the wannabes from the real deal is how one handles disappointment. I’m hoping that I won’t be just another wannabe, so I try to learn from my disappointments (figure out if and when I’m doing something wrong, and try to adapt) and then just let the disappointment fall away. In other words, I get knocked down but I get up again you’re never gonna keep me down (everyone loves a nineties pop/rock reference). So may we all strive to do our best - or even better than our best - and when things don’t go as planned, may we keep on going without looking back.
Tags: canceled, Chumbawamba, Disappointment, Expectations, Jeff Hawker, Lugz Coffee Lounge, Vancouver
Good entry Jeff. It’s interesting to hear your perspective as an artist just starting out, trying to figure out how to sell CDs and become known.
There really is no rhyme or reason to it: some artists get popular right away, others take years to get noticed. But definitely, I have a lot of respect for artists who are actively promoting themselves and taking music seriously. It’s a tough business to get in to.