Growing a beard . . .

For the longest time, I could not grow a good beard. Well, being hairy was never a challenge, but there were little spots on the sides of my mouth that refused to connect. Guys know what I’m talking about. I always wanted a nice, full beard. Not necessarily in the Grizzly Adams or ZZ Top league, but maybe more like a Kenneth Branagh or Eddie Vedder beard. Something that didn’t look goofy.

I spent years looking like a half-bearded freak every time I tried to grow it out, but stayed the course nonetheless. Grow it, shave it, grow it, shave it, repeat. I would have to endure a short period of looking strange, but each time it got a little less strange. Eventually, I just forgot about it and, whether I had more important things to worry about or was just lazy, I ended spent more time in a beard than out of one.

The other day, I was looking in the mirror to make sure my face was still there or something, and I noticed . . . wow. It connects! I have a full beard now! How long has it been like that? I don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it. I just went with it.

Such has been the case with our music at times. When we focus on how much farther we have to go, we get stressed and depressed, we think we’re crap, we start questioning our lives, etc. But when we just do what we do and don’t think about it, we find that we’re actually getting somewhere. We may go through periods of looking ridiculous, but ultimately it’s a fact of life and progress, and things only get better with time, patience, and persistence.

Many of you that know me may also be ready to write “You didn’t look ridiculous with your beard like that.” Which brings me to another comforting fact: Most of the negative stuff is all in our heads and doesn’t matter to anyone else anyway.