I don’t know about you, but there are many times in my life where I hear,
“You are just like your dad”
or
“You are pretty good at writing music, your family must be musically talented. Did your parents play any instruments?”
My internal answer to the first statement is, yes, I am quite like my father in many ways. More ways than I thought I ever would be. I don’t think there is another person in my life I would model myself after. His commitment to taking care of his family and sacrificing some of his own personal ambitions while we were growing up is something I greatly admire. Now that we are all older and out of the house, it is great to see that he now as the time and the funds to do some of the things he had on the back burner, like getting an old sports car and traveling alone with my mother.
I feel that I have received the trait of persistence and commitment well from him. Are those things genetic? No, but he made me who I am, no matter how much I would battle against him and his arguments. Living under his wing and guidance helped me become a better man.
My father gave me a trait that I am very thankful for.
In regard to the second statement, no. I do no come from a family that plays and writes music. My siblings grew up playing piano, some school band stuff and the occasional guitar, but I am the only one that truly pursues it as a personal passion. My mother did play guitar in church when she was younger and my father’s brother loves music and still plays his horn when he can, but I am still the relative that everyone knows that can sing and play. I don’t just sing and play, I write, I record and I collaborate with musicians across the country.
My trait of musicianship was something I created on my own. Through my own desires.
Not all traits are something we inherit.
If you are a person that feels like you are stuck with the traits you currently have, you are dead wrong.
We do obtain a lot from our parents and those that raise us, educate us and guide us through our life, but those are only fractions of who we are. Our actions and words we create develop new traits within us. I had to pursue music on my own terms, with my own motivation and sometimes with less than perfect support.
Just because I was taught to be a committed person, doesn’t mean that it was going to be an easy life choice either. The traits that we are given still need to be refined and made our own. Not every musician’s daughter or doctor’s son ends up doing what their parents did best. If they do, they do it on their own terms.
You have the opportunity in your own life to become something greater than you were raised to be. You have the ability to become really great at something that isn’t just handed to you or forced into your life. You have the choice to be who you really want to be some day.
It won’t happen overnight and it won’t be easy, but it will be awesome.
