Season 11 of The Voice started on T.V recently. Team Adam FTW!! It is one of my favorite reality shows for three reasons: a) awesome coaches, b) incredible talent, and c) serious inspiration.
The story of each contestant is powerful in their own way. As unique as they are, there’s a mutual theme of defying the odds. But why would they defy the odds?, you ask. Because they’re passionate about what they do.
It shows that your passion will take you places.If you like something, practice and pursue it. Keep getting better at it because there’s always room for improvement. If you fall down, get up and do it again. Don’t give up.
You probably want to make an unfulfilled dream come true. Maybe something like learning a martial art or learning to play a musical instrument or picking up a paint brush or anything, really. Dreams can’t be defined. They’re unique to each of us.
It could even be the most mundane activity like going for a morning run everyday or doing your homework. You have to start somewhere.
There are kids as young as 15 singing their hearts out. Age isn’t a bar. Whether you’re 6 or 60, it doesn’t restrict you from doing what you want. You’ll go to sleep thinking about it but when the daylight comes, you’ll have to go and fulfill your duties and responsibilities. You sang that sentence, didn’t you? Why should you leave it for another time?
But you’re holding back, and maybe you know why or maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re afraid that it isn’t going to work out. To that I say, the least you can do is try. If you don’t try, regret will eat you up for the rest of your life. Maybe you didn’t have the opportunity earlier in life but now you do, so go for it!
Tomorrow is a mythical land where all of humanity’s tasks, dreams and plans are found. Do you really want your dreams and plans to get lost in a void that you won’t have the time to explore and retrieve later on? This could be that final push you need to go out there and make an unfulfilled dream come true. It isn’t too late! If you’re waiting for a sign, this is it.
Live life with no regrets. This life you have is too short to be wasted by thinking about “What ifs”. When you look back on your life, you should be content with it. Go out there and do whatever you’ve been putting off because you get one shot at life. Just one. You really should make the most of it.
Because the time is now.
Cluster Of Stars 
Awesome, incredible, serious….. WHY?
What if I thought that Eric Clapton and Aretha Franklin might make better coaches?
Awesome coaches. Do these coaches really care about the singers or are they just trying to win the competition? After all, they do get to choose who they want on their team. What if they were forced to take specific contestants instead? Would they still be awesome coaches? Could they teach the infamous Gold Fish to climb the tree?
Incredible talent, does that apply to all of them or just the ones who got chosen? Other than a glitch in pitch or maybe just having chosen the wrong song, how are the ones who don’t get chosen supposed to feel? One small imperfection cost them an opportunity of a lifetime, or so it seems. Why didn’t the supposed “awesome” coach choose them anyway.. wouldn’t that be the real challenge to them? Take someone with imperfections and “fix” them? Instead of picking the ones who might already be perfect.
Serious inspiration… to whom? Is this show only telling the good ones that they will go far? How is it inspiring the ones who did not get in just because of the slightest mistake? What if that was the only chance for even one of them to ever be able to make it a dream come true? Has this show destroyed it now? “Did those coaches just tell all of the world that I was not good enough?” “Did all my dreams just come crashing down around me?”
“Defying the odds” Let’s take a look at those odds….
Pick a child aged 16 in India, now pick one of the same age in the US. Which child has better odds for opportunity to hone his singing talent? Do the same for a child who runs faster than any other in his school. Which country would give him a stronger opportunity to hone that skill?
Look at the results of the most recent Olympics. Did India have talent? Oh yes it did…. but who helped hone it? Where were the coaches to help them get better? Did they have the professional stadiums or the “awesome” coaches that the Americans had? Did they have any of the facilities that they needed to “fight the odds”?
Fighting the odds has different meaning to different people, different nationalities, maybe even different religions. Take a woman in Saudi Arabia whose dream it might be to drive a car. Little thing to the rest of us, but a big dream to her. Is NOW really the time for her? Does that mean she has to go live in another country to do it?
Your passion will take you places – What about a basket ball player who injures his knee and can never play again? Will his passion and dream take him places? Is he done for it and can never live his dream?
Age is no bar – how old was it before your parents allowed you to cross the street? If your dream was to cross the street, then age was a bar.
A life with no regrets – I would love to meet someone who could really, truly, say that they lived one. If I could spend even a day just to be able to ask them how they did that. if they never had to sacrifice one thing to get another.
How can you speak to those who have Bigger Odds to fight? How do you speak to the basketball player who can never play again? To the woman in Saudi Arabia who wants to drive. To the 6 year old who isn’t allowed to cross the street just yet.
How can you motivate them to move on from their one true dream and find another that can make them happy? Find another passion that drives them. Or better still…. be PATIENT until it really is time for their dream to be fulfilled….maybe because, the time isn’t really NOW.
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I appreciate your critique.
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About the judges on The Voice, I wouldn’t know if they really care about the contestants. Nobody would know a person’s true motives and intentions. But the objective is to win the competition so I’m pretty sure that there’s some “coaching” involved. I don’t wish to delve deeper into it. I’ve made use of the show just to tie things together in my blog post.
India at the Olympics this year was bittersweet. While we’re incredibly proud of P.V Sindhu’s silver medal in badminton and Sakshi Malik’s bronze in wrestling and Dipa Karmakar’s excellent performance which placed her fourth in gymnastics, I agree with you about India’s coaching facilities but didn’t it take a lot just to get there? They’ve already fought the odds. Dipa Karmakar is the first Indian female gymnast ever to compete in the Olympics, and the first Indian gymnast to do so in 52 years! Her determination is inspiring.
Yes, fighting the odds has different meanings to different people and that’s my point.
Passion does take you places. Where else do you get your drive? That basketball player could take to coaching or commentating. If he is passionate, he will find a way to still be involved in basketball.
I agree that a person needs to be at the proper age to do certain things.
There will always be regrets. I’m just urging you to live life with the least regrets possible.
The odds are relative. I do agree that patience is necessary and I will keep in mind to find the middle ground while I’m writing.
Again, I thank you for your critique
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