I KNOW NOTHING
“When you think you know everything, you can miss out on a lot. When you realise you don’t, the floodgates come down a bit and you start following literary and musical links that you might not have made before. It’s a whole new parallel universe.” - Andrew Weatherall
The more I’ve allowed myself to not have all the answers, the more life has opened up for me…
Why? Because knowing it all can quietly close down the doors that humility keeps open.
I heard a perspective recently from Matthew McConaughey on Jay Shetty’s podcast that made me stop and think about humility and self-awareness.
He talks about being able to look at our “weaknesses”, and our strengths — cleanly and clearly — to gain a more honest sense of ourselves, free from distortion or avoidance.
Humility is not thinking less of ourselves, and more about remaining coachable, adaptable, and real with where we’re at. The moment we believe we’ve figured something out, we stop listening. We stop exploring. We stop growing.
Growth often comes through connections I never expected to make. One book leads to the next. A brief conversation changes my perspective on reality. A song opens up an emotional world I didn’t have the language for before.
Even the negatively perceived situations in our life hold great value. Heartbreak can deepen our compassion. Failure can introduce us to an entirely different version of ourselves. Life becomes richer when we stop trying to dominate it with certainty — and start relating to it with curiosity.
This “parallel universe” exists everywhere — not just in art. It’s in people, philosophy, relationships, nature, business, spirituality, grief, masculinity, love.
The more I’ve softened my grip on needing to know everything, the more the natural unfolding of things has revealed itself in layers. And strangely, that openness hasn’t made me weaker — it’s made me more alive.
Confidence AND humility can coexist. We can know our value while remaining open. We can be a work-in-progress — and full of ourselves at the same time.
I just got back from a week at The Great Escape in Brighton, what a cracker of a festival! It’s an annual gathering of emerging music and was a pleasure to be involved.
I didn’t take any snaps of the performances themselves because I prefer to be gettin' sweaty on the dance floor — but some artists that stood out to me were Garage Flower, Max Baby and Sleepazoid - check em’ out.
I’ve had a bit of time away from making music whilst on my travels, and I’m itching to get back at it. Creating is like breathing for me. I’ve come to realise that this is because I am the Creator. What am I doing with my life, if I’m not creating?
Creation itself feels like the closest thing to God I’ve ever found. There’s no silver-bearded geezer perched upon a cloud waving a magic wand, nor some divine entity that’s gunna come save me and sort my shit out. The responsibility — and the beauty — is in my own hands.
It’s all on me to shape this life into something beautiful.
The paradox is that we must surrender to it. Allow it. Embrace it. Just say yes to it.
No excuses.
