As I mentioned in my email, during my darkest hour, when I felt everyone had given up on me and I was licking dirt with my chin in the gutter, I had my greatest epiphany!
Well, something had shifted when I hit rock bottom. My ego that thought I was such an awesome cool dude who could do no wrong … was CRUSHED! Good thing, right? Then, I read this quote from Mahatma Gandhi:
“I must reduce myself to zero. So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him.”
Its one of those crazy things in life, but only when I was reduced to zero, could I see and do the things needed to be done, (the humbling things) to make my way to the top. No longer did I feel entitled to be at the top, no longer did I criticize others for being at the top, I simply looked at myself and said, “lets get to work.” It was clear that my mission here on earth was to make music and LIFT as many people as possible.
I essentially broke through and “Set Myself Free” of my own delusional prison, which had prevented me from expanding past my own limitations. Can you relate? Like when you think you’re great at something but you’re not getting where you want to because you won’t do the extra work it takes. For me it was like: ok, so I don’t have a million dollars, but I have a skill and a lot of heart, why not just put out rough songs on YouTube that aren’t perfectly produced or why not grab your guitar and play at a yoga studio even if I’m not getting paid a ton of money. Just do it and don’t worry about being perfect!
We all have the ability to free ourselves from the chains (fear of judgement) that prevents us from really stepping up and living our dreams… thus the title track “Set Yourself Free” was born.
“The only catch here is we must to reduce ourselves to a point where we are humble enough to do what it takes to get what we want!”
But What About The Money Dude?
Yeah the money, it was almost freaky. I had been owed money from an investment I made in a technology company like 6 years prior and wrote it off as a loss. Low and behold shortly after my epiphany I got a call and the stock went public. I managed to sell my stock and finance a full length major label production album with a top producer JB Eckl (Santana, Ozomatli, War).
Of course the inspiration for the whole album was really about digging deep down and pulling out the rare and powerful, hidden gems that exist inside us, like on the song “You Are Wonderful.” And of course the song “Rise Up”, which is about rising up above the daily grind where you may be “walking around with your eyes to the ground” and the “weight of the world is dragging you down”. Ultimately though as the song goes, “It’s your time right now” so “sing your dreams out loud”!
If I hadn’t been kicked to the curb with my chin in the gutter, I never would have pulled out the creative spirit that wrote these songs that have inspired thousands of people and now…. hopefully you to do something awesome towards your dreams as well!
And… here it is. The title track: “Set Yourself Free” to push you in the direction of your dreams:)
please feel free to share it with others or download it.
Thanks again for your support.
Chad
P.S.
If you’re really digging Set Yourself Free, you can get the whole album here on my site 20% cheaper than at iTunes here: https://chadscottmusic.com/album/set-yourself-free/