"The Independent Author"--June 12th, 2009

Standing at the Crossroads of Your Life

There comes a time in everyone's life when we find ourselves standing at critical crossroads of our existence. Movies have been made, stories have been written and poems and songs are sung to romanticize this symbolic event that is not partial to one individual over the other. No matter what your present circumstance, your financial, ethnic, political or even spiritual background may be, you will come to an intersection in your life's journey where you have to make a choice. And despite what film or fantasy may do in an attempt to draw this moment as a lonely intersection of potential paths--possible choice in your future--it is in the end, an overcrowded place. This I believe is a moment where many people drop their packs, lay down their arms or throw them up in submission and just settle in. I see the crossroads as an overpopulated section of life where many people succumb to defeat and occupy it as a sort of home, in spite of ever having to make the critical choices that will alter that life forever. I have come to this place many times before--whether it was in a relationship, a family matter in a role as father or husband, relative to some or friend to others--and despite dreaming of a way around it, I have had to make choices. In the end, we all do. That I think is what makes this moment in our lives so difficult; it's the part of life that becomes hard or scary. But rest assured, you are not alone.

In relation to my career, I have once again found myself at the crossroads of my life. I have asked aloud in prayer, "Why am I here?" And "What am I doing here?" The quest of the independent author is a story of struggle and hope. The obstacles we face are the dragons that define our courage; the  small victories in the grand battle in pursuit of a dream are what the world calls success. You are not alone when you feel as though everything you are trying, while working to define your life in relation to your gifts, seems as though it just isn't working out. I am no different than you when I say, the pathway to success--or the road to fame and fortune as others might call it--is a long and lonely road. Many things will be lost along the way. Many of the things you hoped to find, will not be there when you reach the pinnacle of your success. People will doubt you and they will challenge your willingness to dream. But dream you must...

You must believe in yourself and more importantly, spend time alone so that you can discover your true self. It is the adversity of life that introduces you to your true self--to who you really are. Take what you have been given and give it back to the world. Offer your songs, your stories, your poems, paintings and your life to the world and the world will open itself to you and give back all you have given and all you have lost. There are no coincidences when you are traveling the true road. There is no luck--good or bad. Your efforts, your study, your diligence to push towards your goals is rewarded, not overnight but every night you dare to pursue your dream. It takes time, like a garden takes time to grow....but rest assured, the world will water the seeds you have sown, and the sun will pierce the blanket of earth you have used to cover it, to nurture it and in time, it will grow. And the fruit of your labors will become the flower, the fragrance and the beauty the world has been longing for...

You have to both protect and defend your heart and your dream. To cast your beauty before those who do not yet understand the depth of your existence is to lay the lamb to slaughter. Share your vision sparingly and let your struggle and perseverance become the testament to your life and to your purpose. One day your garden will grow and it is then people will stop in wonder at the beauty you have become.  Sit and meditate and consider the vision for your future and work to discover HOW to make that vision a reality. Artist are visionaries and we are responsible to learning how to overcome adversity, so that we can become hope for others. It is a burden you will bear all your life and you cannot avoid it. What you can do instead it rise to the occasion, slay the demon of doubt and only visit the crossroads for a moment but do not make it your home.

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...supporting the independent arts...

~Bobby Ozuna

The Independent Author--The Courage to Face our Dreams

The Independent Author--The Courage to Face our Dreams

Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist once said: "We who fight for our dream suffer far more when it doesn't work out, because we cannot fall back on the old excuse: "Oh well, I didn't really want it anyway." We do want it and know that we have staked everything on it and that the path of the personal calling is no easier than any other path, except that our whole heart is in this journey. Then, we warriors of light must be prepared to have patience in difficult times and to know that the Universe is conspiring in our favor, even though we may not understand how."

We all love to stand on the shores of the ocean, taking in her power and the strong winds she forms and we dream of distant shores, of sandy beaches and places others within our lives have never seen. There is something about that moment, with our feet in the sand, the thunderous applause of the waves as they crash down before us, almost begging us to embark on the journey that is stirring within our souls. Some people--or most people rather--will spend a lifetime only dreaming about setting sail for that distant shore and others, a very rare few, will actually dare to embark on that journey.

Yesterday, I set sail to embark on a new path within the journey of my life. It has been a little more than eleven years since I first picked up the pen and only about nine years since I first shared my works with others. I have wrestled with my soul to come to terms with the purpose of my life. And like many of you, I have struggled to fit in and feel truly comfortable with my surroundings, knowing there was more to me than what was seen within the life I was leading--the path I was walking. I have taken the unbeaten path many times in my life, not always for learning but more so for spite and the right to brag at the table over drinks about how I dared to walk a road most only talk about. When I have looked back at the mistakes of my life, I have justified them in comparison to the words of Robert Frost when he said, "Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the road less traveled by and that has made all the difference."

Looking back now on the mistakes of my life, the choices I made and justified, I have a better understanding of who I am and what my purpose is in this world. It isn't any easier when you discover your place and come to terms with your gifts because you soon learn of new struggles, the struggles to convince those who say they love you that you are living to your full potential by daring to be different, daring to dream and daring to take the unbeaten road. Many in my life--those who have proclaimed to love me--have questioned my intentions as though they have stood beside me all these years while I struggled and studied and learned how to apply my gift for the sake of the world and for the sake of a future that is now clearer to me than ever before. Most people will not understand why you choose to be different, and their attitude towards you will appear jealous, sometimes rude as though they are trying to "fix" you and at other times blatantly condescending. It isn't their fault however and you must understand that, as I have and that is what I keep telling myself.

All life is a journey and we all face common obstacles, either in the form of threshold guardians who try to keep us from accomplishing our dreams to tricksters who are misleading for the purpose of making us fall. We have mentors too, people who come into our lives at the right time, to say the right things just when we need to hear them. They are your signs, your indications that you are on the right track towards success. The people closest to me may not (yet) understand what I am trying to do with my life or where I am trying to go. And if they do have a sense for what I want to accomplish, they have no way of understanding the journey. Success is a process...not a destination. That is what the author Jeff Olson says. And if we work hard everyday at the thing we want to accomplish in our lives, we are then creating success in our lives daily. If success were a destination, then I wouldn't have any in my life. It's the little "invisible results" that I create on a daily basis, off the beaten road--the familiar path--that will one day set me apart. I don't do it to be different or better but instead because I want a better way of living. I want to live a life utilizing the gifts and talents I have been given.

I will meet with my new marketing agency today. I believe they are the people (and the owner is the person) I have been waiting to meet, to help take my career to the next level of sales, marketability and credibility. I have worked hard to get where I am today--three years of invisible results--and now my work is starting to bear fruit. It won't be long before I am on the road, touring, speaking, signing books and living the life I have dreamed of. And I won't accomplish it by any sense of luck--but instead--by simply working hard everyday to be prepared for the opportunity that will one day present itself.

Remember, people close to you love you and and they want you to succeed--but their measurement of success will vary from yours as the people closest to me don't yet understand the process of creating that success. My life will change and I will take a step up the ladder on a new venture of my literary career today. Where I end up, I won't know until I get there. How I get there however is clear to me...one day at a time...one step at a time...and with the full understanding that those who love me...may fall by the wayside...they may doubt me...they may completely quit on me...and today, I can live with that. Because if I was truly on the wrong path in my life...then why (I ask myself) are so many others...watching me...???

~Bobby Ozuna