One more time
I heard the Swedish artist Benjamin Ingrosso talking about one of the biggest moments in his career.
He was playing at Stockholm Olympic Stadium. Sitting by the piano, looking out over the crowd. 40,000 people in the audience.
And then... spotting himself on the Jumbotron. Right away, his mind goes:
“Oh nooo, how do I look?! I’ve made 40,000 people disappointed. Everyone thinks I’m ugly and not good enough.”
Even though I wasn't there myself, I'd bet that not a single person in the crowd was thinking that about him. They love the guy!
While most of us won’t ever play a show like that, I think many of us can recognize the show that goes on in our heads. The feeling of being a failure, a fraud, a nobody.
Always trying to please, not realizing that it’s the voice in our head we’re trying to please. There’s no crowd judging us with scorecards. The scoreboard is in our mind, and the judge is impossible to please.
What if we pause and look at what we have here and now? Sure, we still have plans, things we want to achieve, goals we’re trying to reach. That’s great, but what about this moment?
Right now, this is our stage, this is the real live show. Not the next stop on the road. If we truly recognize that, we can hear the sound of a roaring crowd:
One more time, one more time, one more time!