Fame and a cup of coffee


koffieLast year I was talking to a friend about fame. She works in the music business too, with world music artists. Sometimes I wonder why conversations with colleagues from rock/pop are always so worked up, as if they have to proof themselves, all the time. Conversations with colleagues from world music or jazz are much more relaxed. You can also experience it in the atmosphere at conferences for the genres. But that’s a different subject.

With a cup of coffee in our hands we were talking about fame, in a relaxed way. She mentioned a famous Dutch pop musician from the ’80s. I forgot his name.

“It all started to go wrong, when I was taking for granted that someone else would get me my cup of coffee”, he told her.

This sentence sums it all up for me. The ego-boost you get when becoming famous. You need to ‘feed’ your ego with attention and compliments. That’s also what Elizabeth Gilbert writes about in her new book “Big Magic”. You even might become angry if you have to get your own cup of coffee.

If you recognize that situation, you can’t see things in perspective anymore. In your mind, you have become the center of the universe, and everything that doesn’t confirm this, is seen as a threat.

Face that threat! You are not the center of the world. Earth revolves around sun and will keep doing so, whatever you do. If you realize that, you will not be afraid anymore to get your own cup of coffee. You might even want to ask your staff if they want some coffee too.

I know a well known musicians who has become a master making cappuccino, similar to the picture above 🙂

 

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