After a very tumultuous and trying week, I almost forgot that I had tickets to the Joshua Radin concert last night. I've had a bit of a crush on him ever since my cousin Dahlia first shared his music with me three years ago. Jenni gave me some more of his music (and convinced me his last name was pronounced rah-din instead of ray-din...apparently she was wrong) and my crush only got more intense.
Flash forward to this summer in the springpad office. I find out one of my coworkers has Joshua's new-ish CD on his iTunes, and I can't stop listening. Rachel and I look him up on Wikipedia as part of the age guessing game and realize that he's short, like really short...and he's sort of 35. Still, even though he doesn't pass my height test, I'd still marry him in an instant...If only he were 10 years younger!
Flash forward to last night at the House of Blues in Boston.
I couldn't stop yelling "I love you!" to the stage, and I must have squeezed Rachel's hand about a million times in excitement when Joshua played my favorite songs. Seeing him in concert only reaffirmed my love for him. His stories were funny, his "whisper rock" breathy and beautiful, and his new more "rock n' roll" songs extremely catchy.
I think my favorite JR story described the inspiration behind the song "No Envy, No Fear," a song he admits to playing for himself every night. Joshua described the jealousy and self doubt he initially felt when entering the music business, and how he finally decided to do something about it.
Instead of being jealous of something you think you want, turn that jealousy into inspiration. If you can do this, you'll be a much happier person. And you know what? I think that's just beautiful, and I might make it into my new life mantra.
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