In 2017 I quit my job at Republic Records to start MOXI. Jumping off the deep end, it was sink or swim. On my 25th birthday we drank cheap champagne to officially launch MOXI and raise a glass to the future. Ragtag and sweaty that night on the rooftop of a six story walk-up on a hot New York summer night, there was something contagious in the air - hope.
For the next few years, I hustled 90 miles a minute desperate to prove myself barely coming up for air. Over time the waves of entrepreneurship, of the music business, and of the creative mind began to consume me - tossing me back and forth, up and down. I found myself in a state of isolation, panic, and fear. The chaos was unavoidable. And it was winning. I needed to find calm in the eye of the storm if I was going to survive, let alone thrive.
Before the pandemic, I was contemplating what to do with MOXI. As the result of a recent business partnership, the management side of things has found a new home (more on that later) leaving me to rethink the rest. Juggling career and life transition, it became clear that forcing movement with MOXI was not the solution. What I really needed was a break.
So in February I drove two hours north of Los Angeles to retreat - alone. In search of reset and breakthrough, I savored silence and solitude. And as a result, I came home inspired and rejuvenated.
I’d decided that MOXI needed a shift in identity in order to authentically reflect the changes I'd been navigating. At the start of the year I was excited by the idea of 20/20 vision. After months of internal work, I was starting to become more aware. Starting to access new freedom and peace through faith and various lifestyle changes, mental health tools, and resources. In response to the chaos, I was forced to find a more sustainable way and was eager to learn more.
I felt compelled to start a dialogue because I wasn't the only one who felt this way. In business meetings, at shows, over coffee with industry friends these topics kept coming to the surface. I wasn't alone in wanting to find a better way. We didn't want to give up. We wanted to learn to thrive despite the inevitable waves we'd continue to face. We were tired of caring about how it looked like we were doing. Instead, we wanted to talk about how we were actually doing.
So, I decided to continue MOXI as a blog purposed in the basic question - how are we ?
Why? Because as we begin to better understand the answer we embark on the journey of learning how to not only survive in chaos, but how to thrive in it. We learn how to find calm in the eye of the storm.
Now, chaos extends far beyond the creative experience as we all find ourselves living in a completely different world than the one we once knew. With a lack of control over our circumstance suddenly isolation, panic, and fear are everywhere. It's easy to feel like 2020, a year so many of us held with positive expectation, has suddenly turned to dust. But looking back at the months leading to COVID-19's arrival, I can't help but feel like 20/20 vision, heightened awareness, a need for solitude, reset, rest, and an eagerness to explore the antithesis of fear all came to consciousness in preparation for the season we now navigate as a global community. These questions have suddenly become universal.
How do we learn to thrive when the future is out of our control?
How do we learn to thrive when panic and fear surround us?
How do we learn to thrive when our health is compromised?
How do we learn to thrive in isolation?
How do we learn to thrive in the eye of the storm?
COVID-19 and its fear driven side effects are highly contagious. But so is hope. 20/20 vision, awareness, and perspective are now a requirement, not a choice.
Hope for the future is where we have to start. About the rest, let’s talk.
(collage credits: original content, "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield, Beck 'Hyperspace' Album Art, Koto Bolofo)