Ever sit around on your couch at night and have this blast of truth remind you that no matter what, most all things you do that are big are done alone – not that there aren’t wonderful loved ones around to help you make it through the day and sometimes night but the sum total of major events are faced pretty much on your own. Think of death, not even your own. When my dad died over twenty years ago, I was surrounded by my five siblings and nieces and nephews and mother and aunts and uncles and yet I lost my father who was unique to me. Success, failure, joy, sadness, all these emotions I have experienced have been unique to me in their totality. Is this maniacal? How can someone so gregarious in nature – moi – detach so strongly from the pack and find utter solitude so, I don’t know, enjoyable? Profound? Compelling. And yet desire to rejoin the pack so completely once I’ve had my fill of it. <\/p>\n
This next week I will be judged by my year’s performance – sales, management, statistics will rate how I performed all year long in my work. Friends and family choose to judge me daily. But at work it comes once a year, always at this time, on a scale of one to ten, I would say I performed better than most, but not as good as me. It was a tough year – some people very close to me know how tough this year was for me, and others believe I possess super powers that render me stronger than the average bear – want to bet neither of these are true statements about me – success was my only option, failure was not. <\/p>\n
That’s why I love this song by Eminem, it has the true grit of summoning your own unique powers when the time comes:<\/p>\n
Lose Yourself<\/p>\n
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
\nTo seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
\nWould you capture it or just let it slip? <\/p>\n
Yo, His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
\nThere’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti
\nHe’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
\nTo drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting
\nWhat he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
\nHe opens his mouth, but the words won’t come out
\nHe’s chokin, how everybody’s chokin now
\nThe clock’s run out, time’s up over, bloah!
\nSnap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
\nOh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
\nHe’s so mad, but he won’t give up that easy
\nNo, he won’t have it , he knows his whole back city’s ropes
\nIt don’t matter, he’s dope
\nHe knows that, but he’s broke
\nHe’s so stacked that he knows
\nWhen he goes back to his mobile home, that’s when it’s
\nBack to the lab again yo
\nThis whole rap city
\nHe better go capture this moment and hope it don’t pass him<\/p>\n
[Chorus:]
\nYou better lose yourself in the music, the moment
\nYou own it, you better never let it go
\nYou only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
\nThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo,<\/p>\n
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
\nYou own it, you better never let it go
\nYou only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
\nThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime you better,<\/p>\n
His soul’s escaping, through this hole that it’s gaping
\nThis world is mine for the taking
\nMake me king, as we move toward a, new world order
\nA normal life is borin, but superstardom’s close to post mortom
\nIt only grows harder, only grows hotter
\nHe blows us all over these hoes is all on him
\nCoast to coast shows, he’s know as the globetrotter
\nLonely roads, God only knows
\nHe’s grown farther from home, he’s no father
\nHe goes home and barely knows his own daughter
\nBut hold your nose cause here goes the cold water
\nThese ho’s don’t want him no mo, he’s cold product
\nThey moved on to the next schmoe who flows
\nHe nose dove and sold nada
\nSo the soap opera is told and unfolds
\nI suppose it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s old partner, but the beat goes on
\nDa da dum da dum da da<\/p>\n
[Chorus:]
\nYou better lose yourself in the music, the moment
\nYou own it, you better never let it go
\nYou only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
\nThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo <\/p>\n
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
\nYou own it, you better never let it go
\nYou only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
\nThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo, you better<\/p>\n
No more games, I’ma change what you call rage
\nTear this mothafuckin roof off like 2 dogs caged
\nI was playin in the beginnin, the mood all changed
\nI been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
\nBut I kept rhymin and stepwritin the next cypher
\nBest believe somebody’s payin the pied piper
\nAll the pain inside amplified by the fact
\nThat I can’t get by with my 9 to 5
\nAnd I can’t provide the right type of life for my family
\nCause man, these goddam food stamps don’t buy diapers
\nAnd it’s no movie, there’s no Makai Pfeiffer, this is my life
\nAnd these times are so hard and it’s getting even harder
\nTryin to feed and water my seed, plus
\nTeeter-totter caught up between trying to be a father and a prima donna
\nBaby mama drama’s screamin on and
\nToo much for me to wanna
\nStay in one spot, another day of monotony
\nHas gotten me to the point, I’m like a snail
\nI’ve got to formulate a plot or I end up in jail or shot
\nSuccess is my only mothafuckin option, failure’s not
\nMom, I love you, but this trailer’s got to go
\nI cannot grow old in Salem’s lot
\nSo here I go is my shot.
\nFeet fail me not or not this may be the only opportunity that I got<\/p>\n
[Chorus:]
\nYou better lose yourself in the music, the moment
\nYou own it, you better never let it go
\nYou only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
\nThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo <\/p>\n
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
\nYou own it, you better never let it go
\nYou only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
\nThis opportunity comes once in a lifetime you better,<\/p>\n
You can do anything you set your mind to, man<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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