Keep That Negativity

As the fever scorched through my body, I lay there drenched in sweat, my head pounding like a relentless drum. I was in the grip of a nasty cold that had me bedridden and at the mercy of my own body’s healing process. For now, all I could do was rest and attempt to recover. That was when my phone began to buzz, tearing me from the weak grip of a fitful sleep. It was an artist I had worked with in the past and had tried to collaborate with numerous times. A once-promising musician whose talents I had admired, his voicemails now oozed with anger and resentment. The bitterness in his voice was palpable, his accusations baseless and forged from the shadows of his own tortured mind. He blamed me for the hardships in his life, a situation that I had no part in and that, as far as I was told, was under the scrutiny of high-profile law enforcement agencies. I lay in bed, baffled and sickened. How had his delusions reached such fevered heights, and what role did I play in this tangled web of his making? As I pondered his misguided assumptions, I saw a man a nearly decade older than me, someone who had been coddled by those around him his entire life. His family, his manager, his so-called friends – they all appeared to be enablers who fed his victimhood. Our paths had first crossed over a decade ago through ReverbNation campaigns that had propelled the Bud and Roach Show to new heights. It seemed that he had mistaken my kindness for weakness and now felt it necessary to threaten and accuse me. Taking a deep breath, I called back, desperately hoping to understand what was happening. But the moment I heard his voice, I knew there was no turning back. This grown man had made two critical errors. First, he assumed that I was stealing his life story for a documentary, an utterly ludicrous notion. My ego fought for dominance as I struggled to remind him of the value of my own life, my own story. I tried to open his eyes to the fact that life was happening for everyone, and that he was not the center of the universe. Second, the baseless accusations he hurled my way had no substance or evidence to support his outlandish claims. He seemed addicted to playing the victim, and the illness that had once brought us closer together now seemed to have consumed him entirely. Enough was enough. I drafted a cease and desist order for both him and his manager, prepared to take action if the harassment persisted. But as I did so, I felt a wave of sadness wash over me. I had watched this once-promising artist with the world at his feet crumble into an angry, bitter husk of his former self. Blocking all his accounts, I sent a silent prayer to the universe, asking for protection from such negativity. This ordeal served as a stark reminder of the obstacles I would face on my own road to success. I resolved to avoid side-quests and focus on my own path. I vowed to never allow others to hold power over my dreams, and encouraged everyone to do the same. To conquer their own lane and to never succumb to the poisonous allure of victimhood.