The Power of Process
My father often likens my career to a rocket taking off, the massive amount of propellant (energy) it takes to thrust a rocket through the force of gravity, is comparable to the strong will, desire, and hard work it takes to lift a career off the ground, defying the gravity of internal doubt, gatekeepers, and naysayers. Then once it has broken out of the earth’s atmosphere, it soars using the sheer power of momentum.
I thought of this analogy while I was in an airplane just six days ago feeling like I was being rocketed from one level of my career to another, after being booked for an entire month of August as a resident performer in a hotel in Zanzibar. The circumstances that have brought me to this place and time make me reflect on something that has become a life lesson over the last couple of years, and that is the Power of Process.
I have always had huge ambition, I have always been certain of what I wanted to be, of where my passions lay, and what my purpose is. However, the link between the vision of the destination, and the steps required to get there, eluded me. I did not understand this two syllable word called ‘’pro-cess’’. I thought that the journey towards my dreams was a straight road from A to Z, what pursuing my dream of being an internationally recognised musician has taught me is that in reality, the road towards your dreams is full of twists and turns, potholes and detours; sometimes you have to go back to where you started and re-chart your path, other times you need to stop and re-evaluate. The moments of pause are not time wasters; but filling stations to refuel your drive and sharpen your focus. I have learned that the process is one that requires - amongst other things - patience, consistency, and perhaps even a bit of delusion; the ability to keep alive the inner fire of ‘’Yes’’ when every door you knock on yells ‘’no’’.
The road towards your dreams is full of twists and turns, potholes and detours; sometimes you have to go back to where you started and re-chart your path, other times you need to stop and re-evaluate.
Everything worth having in life is to be gained through process. I see this everyday when I look in the mirror and witness the growth of my locs. Three years ago, out of complete exasperation of having to constantly ‘’maintain’’ my hair, ‘’maintain’’ my beauty, I twisted my hair and vowed to leave it alone and just watch what would happen if I released myself from what I called the ‘’bondage of beauty’’. I knew that the freeform route would take longer, but I was committed to the process, instead of the destination, and I took it as a spiritual journey. The process of afro hair locking is one that starts with baby, then teen, and then fully mature locs, for a long time they don’t look like they are growing at all, but if you trust in the process you can let go in the assurance that the hair will grow and form at the rate that it needs to if it is adequately nourished and healthy. Now nearing their third birthday my locs appear to be firmly in the mature phase, cascading around my face thick and voluminous.
Thus the journey towards our dreams, I’ve learned, should be approached like one approaches a hike up a mountain, with a clear vision of the destination, but a firm focus on simply putting one foot in front of the other; and a willingness to sweat a little for it. You have to have the staying power to see your dreams through. And so, perhaps this is the lesson of my thirties, the Power of Process. Like a bucket of cold water to my face I woke up on my thirtieth birthday drenched in the realisation that there is no destination without the process. I’d spent so much of my young life focusing on this ideal me, who would have this perfect career, but not enough focus on being willing to do what I needed to everyday to get there. It’s an exercise that I have since made a part of my life, to observe process in everything, and to appreciate it as the alchemy through which all desired things mature, develop, and eventually manifest. No doubt I have so many dreams: theatres, festivals, and more, but being valued enough to be booked and paid for to travel across the continent to sing (the thing that I love most in this world), and getting slowly reaching a place where I am able to comfortably make a living off of my art, makes me feel like I am well on my way.
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