Be Yourself.

TRIVIA: "Be Yourself" is the first single by Audioslave for their second album Out of Exile. It was released in 2005. The song topped the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for three weeks and the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for seven weeks in 2005.

“You better stay busy or you’re going to crash” I said this morning to my daughter. High intensity individuals need high performance – all the time (If I had a nickel for every time someone has told me to lower my expectations, relax or take a breather I would be rivalling Buffet in personal net worth). The bottom-line is that the happiest people I have known live intensely; that’s it, that’s all. They are not just dreamers, but are focused workaholics that when they finish work – play as hard, if not harder.

This was my confession to my stunningly beautiful daughter who has just completed high school this week. I am all misty-eyed just thinking about what an amazing accomplishment this has been for her and our family and so I have been rather philosophical as of late. I also have another young lady in my life that is equally exceptional graduating from high school and I have been thinking: if there was one piece of advice that I wish I had out of the gates of high school – what would it be?

Walking in to work this morning I was contemplating the events of the last 24-hours. I made a mistake yesterday that has had fallout that I am still dealing with. Anyone who knows me appreciates that I love music and on my iPOD I heard “Be Yourself” from Audioslave. It’s been awhile since I heard this single and I was musing over the lyrics “...And be yourself is all that you can do...to be yourself is all that you can do...” The point of this reference is that at the end of the day, we have to be true to ourselves. Some people can meditate and be happy, others need to run till their feet bleed: have known both types and many in between. The point is that the solution we select must be true to ourselves.

I am training a young gentleman in our industry and recently I heard myself say: the only way you can be successful is if you figure out who you are. Then make decisions within the context of who you are, otherwise you will fail.

Chris Cornell wrote “Be Yourself” for a different reason. According to interviews it was in part to forgive himself for the time he wasted with some choices he had made in the past with  substance abuse. I can appreciate this, as the only regret I have in life is for the time I have wasted. Useless legal proceedings, staying too long in relationships that were not positive, or maintaining business relationships with no shot of making money are just the beginning of a this list.

So back to my daughter and "E" -- be yourself and then, once you know who you are and only then; can you trust your intuition. When I was in university, my boyfriend and 4 others  took out student loans and started a video store because we were going to make some money! To make this a short story, here’s what I happened: I suggested location A, he talked me into location B and we barely got our money back. We ended up breaking up and compromised all of our relationships. Location A became a successful video store that was sold for 250k 2 years later. It was owned by a classmate and he ended up hiring me part time while I was in school.

So M and E, listen to your intuition, your heart and you will live life without regrets. And that to me is advice worth listening to. PS. This does not apply to fashion crimes. Thank you M for sending me this photo from Queen St. Please tell me this is not our fall trend for fashion footwear?

Comments

[John Clarke]

tracy
can i have a drink with you when your feet stop bleeding?
lol JC

[Tracy]

Morning JC, LOL. I wondered if anyone would pick up on this...daughter had her prom last night and I head out West this afternoon to look at some oil & gas deals and be apart of the Calgary Stampede. Wheeler told me to avoid chuckwagon races because he said that if any of the wagons wreck, they have to put the horses down on the track? Is this true? Fred told me to step in some horse crap so that I don't look like a newbie from the east with my cowboy boots I bought in Nashville...lovely.

How about Tuesday the 7th at REDS if you are in town? T.