Fear Stretching (Best of YCP: Stephen)

Stephen is a singer/songwriter who has just released his first album, “Sincerely.”  In his own words: “My album is a story of triumph, of letting go of all the uncertainty in my head and learning to walk the path of my own heart. “Sincerely” is about realizing how much better this world would be if we all loved ourselves, if we weren’t afraid of being vulnerable and honest. It doesn’t matter who’s president or what technology we invent or what extremists we destroy, the only thing I know is this: There will never be peace if we do not all love ourselves.”

Full shownotes: http://yourcreativepush.com/bestof15

In this episode, Stephen discusses:

-A bit about his background and how he came to find himself in Los Angeles.

-How he was the first student of the music school at the University of Miami who also played a Division 1 sport.

-The promise he made to himself at a young age that he would only pursue the things he was passionate about.

-How it’s not like doing work, when you are spending time working on things that you love.  It’s like you get to play.

-The journey that his song “Bullet Train” took him on and the fact that he almost didn’t release it.

-How he only started singing three years before the release of this, his first album.

-How you need to think with the heart more than the head, because the head will give you countless excuses why you shouldn’t do something for the sake of self-preservation.

-A game he plays with his friend called “Fear Stretching.”

-How we are so scared of offending people or not being accepted that we live in a shell, and the more we practice stretching out our fears, the more quickly we can advance to better versions of ourselves.

-The fact that rejection is often times empowering because you can just be yourself without having to worry about other people’s approval.

-The tremendous role that his management team at Th3rd Brain has played on his career so far.

-The message of his album Sincerely — a call to action to make a difference as well as the self-discovery that happened in his life.

-How we distract ourselves with things like The Kardashians because we are afraid of what we are going to find if we look in the mirror too long.

-His music videos for “Crossfire” and “Start a Fire.”

-How he has many resistances, but the main one is self-doubt.

Stephen’s Final Push will inspire you to DANCE AROUND WITH THE TAMBOURINE!

 

 

Quotes:

“Something that has really done a lot of good for me is a promise I made to myself when I was really young that I would really only try to do the things that I really wanted to do.”

“Talent is just intense passion discovered at an early age.”

“When you put a lot of time into something that you really love, it’s not work. It’s like you’re having fun. You’re playing with it.”

“I think it was a massive amount of insecurity. I never imagined myself being a singer. I never even sang in the shower.”

“If I would ever sing along to a song, I would put on a joking singing voice, because I was scared that people would laugh at my singing voice, like my true expression.”

“You’ve just gotta put yourself out there. It’s less a confidence and moreso a carelessness.”

“The worst that can happen is not nearly as bad as you think.”

“It’s the “no’s” that help us grow because we realize that the consequence of being rejected is nothing. In fact, the consequence of being rejected a lot of the times is empowerment because you feel more free. You feel like you don’t need other people’s approval to be yourself.”

“The things that we’re supposed to do that are going to help us the most are the things tha