Getting To Know Yourself For Your Songs Sake

“An unexamined life is a life not worth living.” – Socrates

Lately I’ve been coming across some songwriting articles talking about the concept of “writing what you know”.

Andrea Stolpe describes this concept in her blog “Career Songwriter” as something that “…sounds so obvious, but in fact it’s one of the most difficult ideas when trying to make a living writing songs.”

I think what makes this concept such a challenging one to maintain is that it makes the assumption that the songwriter knows him/herself intimately enough to write in this way.

My advice would be to use the craft of songwriting as a means to get to know yourself. Use the art of writing songs as a way to explore the many different facets of what makes you, YOU!

Sure, you can write songs about what’s happening around you but what about what’s happening inside of you.

This is a very difficult thing to do for anybody, not just songwriters.

You see, most people are afraid of who they really are. They spend years hiding behind masks and making up different characters so they can protect their real selves from hurt and rejection.

As songwriters, we’ve chosen a craft that requires of us a certain degree of nakedness and venerability to make ourselves more connectable with our audience.

In essence, to be a good songwriter we need to be willing to expose who we really are to the world whether we like it or not.

So how do we find out more about ourselves? Well, we can start asking our family and close trusted friends to describe to us who they think we really are.

Contemplate and then reflect on the answers you receive and think about your life through their eyes.

Start writing your reflective thoughts and feelings in your journal if you haven’t started one already but remember, this is not an exercise in comparing yourself to others but an intense examination of the self.

You’re creating a self portrait based on your own experiences and the experiences of others who love and trust you. You’ll also find out that how you see yourself is not necessarily how others see you.

Almost always, this realisation is a very positive and liberating experience for the seeker.

Socrates once said that “an unexamined life is a life not worth living.” I couldn’t agree more. Every experience both outward and inward, can be made into a song if you want it to.

Make an effort to get to know yourself (for your songs sake at least). I know it takes a whole lot of courage but the end results from the risks you take are more than worth it.

Until next time, happy writing,

Corey Stewart
Singer/Songwriter/Musician

Keywords: songwriting, songwriter, songwriting idea, songwriting tip, songwriting help, songwriting technique, songwriting blog, corey stewart

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