The Road...

While in the cab, I update social media, send texts and emails that need to be delivered before I go away into the abyss of yet another plane for yet many hours.”

I am living my dream. But you know what I didn’t realize was part of the dream? Sometimes it can be so incredibly lonely being out here on the road because much of what I am accomplishing no one one else is with me. Of course, people will read this and say, “please calm, or we can meet up wherever you are,” but I am not talking about being alone in life. I am talking about merely dealing with loneliness in the pursuit of the vision I have for myself. 

One of the interesting things about being a touring artist is that much of the contact you will have with people will be at a venue and on stage. Otherwise, you are a bit of a lone wolf on the road. Learning how to combat that loneliness is what can make you a better person and stronger in your own personal journey. 

It doesn’t matter if you are married, or in a relationship, that loneliness is present because are torn between two worlds: the world that loves you, and the world that loves what you do. 

The difference is that the world that loves you, can’t sustain you by that love alone. It is the love from those who embrace what you do that provides a living for you, which benefits those who love you. 

This irony for me has been very interesting to deal with, particularly in my adult life, because I go beyond the phase of just wanting to be great, to wanting to create balance in my life. Being an adult means living and loving. As the artist, I am addicted to my craft; but with that addiction comes many side affects. 

Much of what I have access to, no one understands or has. 

Most of what I desire to share and explain, many people don’t have a point of reference for. However, the beauty of life is lived with and in between contradicting realities and how we find balance in between those realities create our character. 

I practice acceptance and gratefulness of the Road because it is an essential part of my journey in this life.

Boy vs. Man

(Dedicated to my Father Ulysses Owens Sr)

Boys lie, men confront. 

Boys blame others. Men look within and take accountability for themselves.

Boys ask girls what they want. Men make plans for what their woman has communicated they need.

Boys jump to conclusions. Men deal from a place of resolve. 

Boys cry in public wanting someone to reduce, console and make them feel better. Men cry in private and pray for God to make them better. 

Boys want to be raised. Men raise boys. 

Boys lay girls down and ask only for sex. Men empower, and inspire all of the woman’s senses so much so that she wants to create an opportunity to make love, so no part of her is left untouched by that man. 

Boys ask for money. Men make money. 

Boys wait to be told what to do. Men see what needs to be done and tell boys to do it. 

Boys should be allowed to be boys and be raised by Men.

Men should show boys what being a man looks like. 

There was a very interesting fomenting in my life when I shifted from having a boy’s mindset and started thinking like a man 24/7. I used to vacillate between the two, but learned through the good and bad, that being a man is an honor and it takes a commitment and work every day to live up to that honor. 

A dear friend sent me a “love letter to men” recently and it was so wonderful, but it also encouraged me to get up and continue to be someone worthy of receiving that letter. 

Men are often scorned but that’s because people don’t understand what stage of boy/manhood that person is in. Understanding what stage that man is in his life will help people deal with him accordingly. 

From …

A Man