I AM THE ENEMY, I AM THE ANTIDOTE

You are your own worst enemy, your own worst critic.. Life is far too short for you to not believe in yourself. I guess my whole point in today's blog is to maybe give some of you inspiration or a different way of looking at things, some words of wisdom, share some of what I have learned in my life.

Happiness.. The most important thing about happiness is that you will never have it unless it comes from within. You CAN NOT expect others to give it to you. You have to make it for yourself and if others can add to it, then you are a very lucky person. I try to be an optimist for the most part, which some have told me they admire considering what I have been through and what I am going through currently.  No one is happy all the time and no one has a perfect life, but if you can see past the negative and make yourself happy for you, for the most part, you will only attract more positivity into your life.

Never be ashamed of who you are or who you aspire to be. It's hard to be confident sometimes, especially when you've experienced so much loss and failure, but the truth of the matter is, you will never please everyone, so it's pointless to try. The only person you should truly care about pleasing when it comes down to who you are is yourself. People will always judge you, no matter what you do. You just have to have the confidence to know that the path you are on is what's true to your heart and no one can take that away from you.

Life is one big series of lessons. I believe failure and loss exist so that you can appreciate success and gain. At least it helps me to look at it that way. I believe that if you never try to do anything that's in your dreams to do in your life, you are a coward. Any coward can sit behind a computer screen and make fun of people's failures. It takes real bravery and courage to at least try to make your dreams reality.

"I'M MORE METAL THAN YOU ARE!!"

OK ENOUGH of this already!! I see way too many people posting about how "metal" they are. Really? are you the authority? I'm going to say it, heavy metal is a genre full of elitists and full of people who think that you have to act and dress a certain way and own a certain number of albums and attend a certain number of shows, etc,, to be considered "metal" in their eyes. If you can sit and tell me you have never liked a single song that wasn't metal, I would think you are a liar.

I have seen people talking shit about how the kids nowadays don't know what true metal is, etc, etc, blah, blah blah, There's someone who probably thinks the same about you, so knock it off. Constantly posting on facebook about how many CDs you own or how you've been in this scene for 30 years does nothing, but make you look boastful and sad.. If you are secure in who you are there shouldn't be a need for all that. And talking shit about people who have recently discovered metal and snubbing them at shows because of it, is completely ludicrous! Instead you should be opening their eyes to other bands they would like or telling them things they can do or places they can go to learn more.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Metal is one of my true passions in life. It inspires me to be a better person, to do better things and to be more productive. It doesn't matter at what age you discover it, as long as you're lucky enough to discover it at all..

HEAVY METAL AND RELIGION..

I know religion is one of those topics on the "DO NOT DISCUSS IN PUBLIC" list, but I've been seeing a lot of things lately that have inspired me to write about it. I have my own person beliefs on God and the afterlife, paranormal, occult, etc, that I usually don't share with people unless I know them well because 9 out of 10 times people disagree and it becomes a never ending circular argument where no one's point is really heard. Although if someone asks me and I can see that they will respect my beliefs, I have no problem sharing them. If it's some rowdy opinionated jerk off who I know lives in their own little world where what they say if fact, I have no comment.. I believe everyone has the right to their own personal beliefs and I can respect anyone's opinion as long as it's not shoved down my throat, even if I don't agree or I think it's wrong.

So many people lately have been posting what they think is absolute truth. The only truth is that none of us know with 100% certainty what lies beyond death. We just go with what we believe to be true in out hearts. Just as we have no real scientific proof in a God/Gods, the opposite is also true, there is no real proof in the non existence of God either. There are videos of supposed spirits, demons, poltergeists, etc, but there validity will be argued til the end of time.

What does this all have to do with Metal, you ask? Well I've just seen a lot of judgement happen towards metalheads(myself included) if they express their religious beliefs and/or their acceptance of God. How can you be in a metal band and yet still go to church on Sundays? The answer in my opinion is this.. Metal music might be brutal, satanic, evil, what ever.. But, it's a way for people to express all the darkness they have experienced, a way to let out these negative emotions.. It does not have to involve the worship of the "horned one".. I feel privileged that these musicians share with us these personal demons because it makes you feel like you are not alone. A person's personal beliefs should have no bearing on whether or not you choose to listen to their music.

I know a few people personally that hide their beliefs from the crowd because they say they don't want to look like a hypocrite. Why hide it? If you go to church, yet your music is satanic, why hide the fact that you are acknowledging and embracing the dark part of yourself and allowing it to be put out into the world in the form of killer music, instead of in some brutal horrific way? I am a firm believer that there can not be light without dark, good without evil. Being able to express your darkness in a constructive way, in my opinion, is the mark of an enlightened human. And I say human because it's human to have both good and bad in your hearts.. Don't hide your true nature, because that is fake and sooner or later it will come back to haunt you.

So I guess in closing don't be afraid to embrace what's true to your heart and be yourself. If people don't like it fuck em!! There will be 10 people down the line that respect you for your honesty.