Author: Brian "Foe" Alvarez

-Trail to Cloud 9-

Posted on by Brian "Foe" Alvarez

clouds with ladders 3

“There’s beauty in the struggle, ugliness in the success” -J.Cole1

The journey itself is clear; be successful. Yet, no one really tells you how hard it can be.  Think of it like this; a marathon with routes that only you control, some lead you to a dead end and some lead you to what you really want, success. But it’s the person running that really benefits from this race; everyone else is just bystanders cheering you on, handing you that cup of water your dehydrated body needs every once in a while. Let’s face it, when you’re running for so long, the path gets familiar and your concentration dwindles. A thought of turning around and running an alternate direction, driving you further away from your objective, doesn’t look to bad right about now. What about the short cut? Through the sketchy walk way, you may not know if it will benefit you but you will get to your destination, possibly. Before you know it, exhausted and all, you chose to keep running that long and ever so familiar path you originally began on. Even though you dreaded this route, with a smile on your face and the crowd cheering your name, you made it, you crossed the finish line. The “right way”, you became successful.

However, some runners never begin the marathon; they just stand there contemplating if the run is even worth it. If all that hard work is even justified by the outcome; but they will never know unless they take progressive steps forward. So they’re just left standing there, drinking the cups filled with the same water that belongs to the other contestants actually running. Procrastinating on what to do, they’re actually convinced that standing there is okay; building comfort around the idea itself, until that person becomes content.  They may have not begun the race, but they finished speculating on what to do; in other words, pursuing their own happiness and accepting their fate, creating their own success with what they are given.

So what exactly defines “being successful”?  Reaching your aspiration, or being at peace fulfilled with joy? If you look up the definition of “successful”, you will read that it’s to accomplish an aim or a purpose; if your purpose is to just be happy being insignificantly content, you would initially find yourself being successful. If your aim is to achieve a desired vision or planned goal, you again would find yourself being efficiently successful. Granted, comparing the success of working hard and hardly working are two completely different contests; it’s as if you want to compare sprints and long-distance running, they may fall in the same category of track and field, but both are diverse variations of how to run.

Therefore, the terminology of the word “success” is vague. There is no definitive answer on what being successful really means. The sense of triumph alone lingers in a shade of gray. For example, you can capture fame and be on top of the world, yet still feel as if you’re the only one living on it; or you can live in a cardboard box with a crayon drawn window, and yet feel as if you own a mansion. Respectively, your perspective on success determines on how blissful you remain.

Regardless on the route you decide to take on your journey of success. Nothing is set in stone, there is always a way to do better and be better. Even if you’re broke, your spirit is not, be a better person and spread positivity to your peers, it is as contagious as a yawn; thus, create your own definition on being successful, and define the meaning of success as you see it. Negativity is a plague that eats away at your character; do not let criticism stand in the way of your achievements and self-progression. The struggle is beautiful if you’re happy; and happiness comes in all forms, whether you’re engulfed with wealth or drowning in debt, love yours.

  1. J.Cole-Love Yours (2014 Forest Hills Drive)

-Viva La Music-

Posted on by Brian "Foe" Alvarez

“I just wanna make this music lovers remember again” –Logic1

Do you hear that?!  A song is playing in your head, intentional or not, it’s a tune you can’t tune out. Harmonizing with how you feel at this exact moment.  Intense right? It’s the drug that AA attempts to talk you away from, but a week later you’re back for a quick bump. Music is that misleading relationship you tried to avoid, but can’t. It can be the solution when you are depressed or the antagonist to your sorrow; but you still love to hear it. Why? Because music brings out the emotions you try to hide from the world. In other words, when the world fails in conversation, Music speaks to you as a parent reads a bed time story to a child, it’s comforting.

When you hear lyrics that catch your attention, it immediately feels as if your mind just jumped into a time traveling machine; a message that only you can understand and relate to, where you are personally reliving that moment in your head. Holding on to a memory that you thought faded within time. But like wine, it aged beautifully and crept through the crevices of your mind. Making you reminisce because of a couple of lyrics from a song you once told yourself you never wanted to hear again. That feeling can be of joy or be a reminder of why you were initially upset.

Music symbolizes who you are. The control that lyrics can have on an individual, single handily changes their mood for the day. This blog captures these lyrics and reiterates them into a deeper meaning. Through self-experiences, opinions and power phrasing the obvious. A blog that gives you a reason to not only listen to what you hear on the radio, but think of what it can mean and how it makes you feel as you go through the ups and downs. Everyone has struggles, but is too afraid to share them with anyone else, so there “go to” therapist is music, and that’s okay.

Choosing to clear your mind with music does not mean you’re lonely, socially awkward or modest. It just means you’re selective on what you say to whom you tell. So why not grab your headphones, put on some music and just relax? Why not listen to music that enlightens you when you’re down? Or would you much rather open up to a friend who judges you because of how you handle your personal life. How your co-worker preaches loyalty and love, when they’re full of infidelity themselves.  So listening to their advice is as good as listening to a cat bark, it just doesn’t make sense.

Therefore, no one will understand you better than yourself. So listening to a song you choose to hear, is a form of your own self therapy. Helping you power through your own problems as you grow as an individual; and without you even knowing it, building perseverance to overcome the conflict restricting you at that moment.

Music is everywhere and it’s unavoidable. Welcome in the vibes, cook it dinner and make it feel comfortable, because music is here to stay, and it is not going anywhere. It just wants to be the symphony to your greatest masterpiece. Music is life.

1. Logic-Intro (Under Pressure)