I’m just playing…
Have you ever been confronted by someone who tells you that you go to too many music festivals? Maybe they at least insinuated this to you. Opposition is something encountered by many in the scene, whether from disapproving parents, or friends who simply do not get it. This can be an awkward subject, as many of us have fallen so deeply in love with this subculture. We just can’t imagine life without experiencing music.
If you struggle with friends and family who do not support your lifestyle choices, the best thing to do is drop it. Kindly, let them know how important the music is to you, as well as how much joy it brings to you. Leave it at that. As long as you are truly taking good care of yourself and your responsibilities, they should have no reason to be concerned with your extracurricular activities. Be honest with yourself about whether you are raving responsibly.
Try to remember
We might wish for those around us to think nothing but good thoughts about us. The truth is people are vastly diverse. They have different tastes, values, and beliefs. We can’t all agree on everything all the time, even close friends and family. The thoughts that run through the heads of others should be of no concern to you. What matters most is that you give yourself love as well as respect. That means following your heart, and doing what you feel called to do.
Music speaks to the soul. It lifts people out of the dreary depths when times get hard. It pushes and inspires us to be all that we once dreamed we could be. Never let someone who doesn’t have that beautiful connection put you down for it. In the words of the Joseph Campbell: “If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.”
