Hello everybody on Hive and especially the Hive Open Mic Community! My name is Jasper and I'm writing (and singing) to you from Cape Town South Africa!
This is Week 126 of the Hive Open Mic Challenge, and the theme for the week is "Trusting in the Process"!
This was a tricky topic, but eventually I figured I would talk and sing about trusting in the process of working on your mental health and negative emotions, even when it can be scary to do so.
As a boy, we are often brought up being called a crybaby when we show sadness, or a wussy if we show fear. Society soon teaches us that demonstrating anger is also unacceptable, and so we're often left bottling up emotions until they all become too much, and one trivial thing becomes the final straw and we are left wondering why we over-reacted...
Similarly, "postive thinking" is all the rage now, where we are told that if we think a negative thought, then we should just replace it with a postive thought instead... I think this just puts away the negative feelings for a while, and they will surface later... leaving us confused as we don't really know why we feel that way anymore... we can't really remember the cause of the unresolved feelings.
It is braver and wiser, even if it's scarier, to say that it's okay not to be okay and work through the negative emotions now. Once that is done, maybe then we can start to look for the positive side and the opportunities that are there...
It's strange to me that I have found a pop song to convey this message instead of some deep classic folk song, but I have a little game where I like to play the bare bones of a pop song on my single acoustic guitar and see if it still sounds okay... i think this one does!
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the topic as well as the song!
See you next week?
Here's the original video with the lyrics underneath!
It's Okay not to be Okay - Demi Lovato & Marshmello (2021)
Lyrics
Feeling like a drop in the ocean
That don't nobody notice
Maybe it's all just in your head
Feeling like you're trapped in your own skin
And now your body's frozen
Broken down, you've got nothing left
When you're high on emotion
And you're losing your focus
And you feel too exhausted to pray
Don't get lost in the moment
Or give up when you're closest
All you need is somebody to say
It's okay not to be okay
It's okay not to be okay
When you're down and you feel ashamed
It's okay not to be okay
Feeling like your life's an illusion
And lately, you're secluded
Thinking you'll never get your chance
Feeling like you got no solution
It's only 'cause you're human
No control, it's out of your hands
When you're high on emotion
And you're losing your focus
And you feel too exhausted to pray
Don't get lost in the moment
Or give up when you're closest
All you need is somebody to say
It's okay not to be okay
It's okay not to be okay
When you're down and you feel ashamed
It's okay not to be okay
▶️ 3Speak
This has been apotheosic added to the story you have shared with us brother, it has definitely been one of the best entries we have seen this week. A nice way of expressing the theme with this song, you have a lot of talent and an incredible voice, please don't stop and keep it up.
By the way it's always important to put the link of the song so you can give credit to the person who created it and in fact you can edit this post and put it :)! we are looking forward to see you next week!
Thank you very much for the compliments! Yes, now I've added the original video, which is actually quite nice as it shows the stars supporting the younger versions of themselves... which is a facilitation process I have learnt in a group that works on resolving emotions, etc...
Wow, this another great song you bring us!
Totally love it! You have a wonderful voice!
I guess, your looping there, right?
Great job,Jasoer! 👏👏😀
Thank you so much! I'm actually not looping this time! I let the chords ring out and fill the space with tapping percussively on the guitar all in "real time"... it's something I first did on one of my own songs but it seemed like a nice thing to do on the verse and bridge of this song as well.
Wow, it sounds so full!
Brilliant!
I will try that too! 👍
Oh good - you have an acoustic guitar with a wooden body? Play around with various places as they sound a little bit different! A good foot-tapping habit helps hold your rhythm together if you base everything off that...
This is truly amazing,I love the voice and the guitar rhymes ,
Thank you so much!
that's wonderful <3
Ah thank you so much! Do you play music at all? Your profile seems to be about other kinds of art?
I love to sing, woud like to do that too here;)
Ah excellent - hopefully you have some friends to help with that! Are you in the Netherlands?
I hope so too! Yes i live in Flevoland and you?
I'm actually in South Africa! The only time I have been in the Netherlands was being stuck in Amsterdam airport when KLM cancelled a flight... Which was actually last week! But I am back in Cape Town again now... Hahaha!
Oh how long did you have to wait before you could get on your plane again? The airport is not the greatest place to be in Amsterdam. Haha how is Capetown sounds pretty awesome!
I was very touched by your intro. This is so important, especially for men. To learn how to deal with their emotions. True masculine involves being aware of your emotions. Thanks a lot for sharing. I hope lots of people see your video.
Thank you so much! I am now part of the Mankind Project where groups of men help each other process their emotions and understand where their shadows/weaknesses come from - this has been very helpful for me.
Mankind Project! I will Google it.
A very enjoyable entry from you this week sir! I haven't heard the song before but it has a great message and works really well for this weeks theme. I love the percussion on the guitar ,as always that beautiful Taylor is sounding super sweet.
Thank you so much! Demi Lovato is of the same Disney child star generation as others like Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber so I think the original production of this song might have passed you by? It was released last year I think!
Here's the original video - I like how the stars go back in time to support the child versions of themselves. That's actually a facilitation process I have learnt:
This is a fantastic cover. I love your guitar playing and you have a great voice.
Thank you so much! That means a lot coming from someone like you!
You used Logic Pro to back you up this week? Is there anything like that that you can get for free?
Well its a DAW..so I multi-tracked myself playing the drums and bass. There's free DAW called Audacity that a lot of people use for multi-track recordings.
Oh my word I thought you computer programmed the drums and bass using samples or something! Didn't know you were such a genius that you played those parts too!
Haha... Yes, I record on a loop pedal and mix on free Audacity if I am trying to make a demo of something!
I'm very lucky to have had the opportunity to learn some basics on a few instruments.
Luck/talent/hard-work! I wouldn't have space for all the instruments! I have a pedal that lowers my guitar an octave for bass, and am thinking about much smaller options than a full drum kit for percussion!
I use an electric kit that folds up in to a corner. You can also fold it up and fit it in to the boot of a car..It's a Carlsbro one
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