What a Year it Has Been!
I thought it’d be fun to take 12 Days and celebrate some of the things from the past year that have really been special to me. Just in case some of you are just joining in the fun, I made a huge decision this past year to take some really bold steps in regard to my music career. So with that… here’s…
DAY ONE
After recording nine records and performing hundreds of concerts around the country as Mark Smeby, the Great Pause of 2020 left me wondering if I was ever going to do music again… And I just couldn’t shake it. My heart kept drawing me back to the immense joy and love I have for music. But I knew I couldn’t keep doing things the same way. Through this, I discovered a really great opportunity to reinvent myself. That’s when the idea of Marcus Royce was born.
Full disclosure: I have lived my entire life reinventing myself in one way or the other. Some call it maturing, learning, growing, adapting, evolving. I’m continually on a quest to be the most authentic ME that I can be—to me, this is a primary goal of healthy spirituality—getting rid of all that things that stand in the way of me being fully me. To which some of you might say (because of a certain religious upbringing that I’ve shared), “I don’t want to be fully me, I’m just a bag of sin, incapable of anything good.” Regardless of your religious stance (not to mention unhealthy self-esteem issues), I’m convinced that we are all created to be vessels of love and goodness, capable of shining a bright light into the darkness that threatens to overtake us. At the core, that is who we are.
So…back to the music. I wanted to decide what would make me super happy. And I dreamed up a big audacious new goal. And started going after it.
And part of that was deciding to use a new name. There were several reasons for that, but a practical one was to be able to release my music to a new market and not have the “algorithms” of social media and music streamers say, “Hold up, you’ve already released this music!”
One of my big realizations this year has been that life is meant to lived, no matter your age. Here’s a piece I wrote detailing a couple of people who made this super clear to me. I hope this inspires you to keep living, keep growing, keep exploring, keep dreaming. You’re worth it!
Go to Day 2 now! And remember, everyone who subscribes to this newsletter during these 12 Days will be entered into a random drawing to receive a special goodie bag from me!
In case you missed it, I want to invite you to have a little fun with my new contest!