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Struggling Artist

Wonderful essay on the  the space between imagination and reality and the beguiling power of practice. In the context of music, how it empowers those who can make it:
Singing had always seemed to come naturally to me, and people would reliably tell me I was good at it – something very important to me as an attention-seeking youngest child. But I’d never seen an opera performed. What I loved was the feeling of power that singing gave me, of physical strength – the fact I could make a sound that filled a room just by using my body. 
The struggling artist stereotype is a very common one. The path to success is incredibly hard and the overwhelming majority don't make it. This reality is not lost on the struggling artist either and yet they can't seem to quit:
Can you just be cured of art? the director asks one day. Like smoking, just not want to do it anymore? Do hypnotherapy or something and just be cured of it? I’m not earning any money from singing, but I am working until 9 p.m. most weeknights, and on the weekends too
I would extend the concept of "art" here a bit to accommodate people with wild ideas and dreams that they want to bring to fruition. An entrepreneur is an artist too - anyone who has some vision that they cannot sell and monetize but cannot let go will relate to this opera singer.
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