Hozier - More Than A Musician

In the world where majority of our attention, as humans, is on Instagram influencers, reality stars, in the world where beauty standars went to hell, where we compare ourselves to fake online lives, photoshoped faces, plastic surgeries, rumours and gossip, media bombarding us from every corner, in a world where we are faced with huge challenges and problems, in this same world we are blessed with Andrew John Hozier-Byrne. For me, as for the most of you probably, he is known for his music, especially his biggest song "Take me to church". I loved the song ever since I heard it for the first time but it took me a while to listen to his entire first album. And oh boy, was I blown away. By his music style, his voice and his lyrics! At that point, he wasn't a singer or musician for me any more, he was an artist.

When his second album came out, I was blown away once again. I also started to watch some of his live performances and he defenitely took number 1 spot on my list of live performances I would love to see. I don't even remember how or where but somehow I came across his Podcast created in partnership with Global Citizens that is available on YouTube and I believe many different Podcast apps (I use Castbox). The Podcast is called Cry Power and it features some of the people who inspired or influenced Hozier with their work and actions to make this world a better place. As an activist himself, his guests discuss some of the world's major issues and problems, their stories and the work they are doing. Every episode so far moved me and made an impact on me. It's not just one of those things you hear and forget about, it's really something that leaves a mark on you, makes you think and makes you do something.

I consider myself an empath and for many, many years I had this desire to help someone, somehow. In my upbringing and surroundings, volunteering or activism wasn't something you were thought or encouraged to do. Of course, helping a friend, family member or a classmate was normal but anything above that wasn't practised. And somehow I grew up with the mindset "I'll donate money when I make x amount of it" or "One day I'll go and volunteer in Africa". I did take some action in the past like volunteering during the floods in Serbia few years ago, occasionally giving money to homeless people, feeding homeless dogs, donating SBD to some charitites/projects here on Steemit, sending SMS messages to help raise money for sick kids, donating clothes and shoes but now I finally feel confident enough to know I can do more. :)

It's when you realize you have more power in the situation you're at right now, with all you have at this moment, that you can actually do something, that you don't have to be a millionaire or travel the world to make a change. Change begins with "regular" people, small actions, small acts of kindness, your community, your neighborhood, your village or city. Then who knows, you might take it further and bigger and better. Listening to this Podcast made me think of what can I do right now, from my position and my situation - I can offer helping with the organization of some local projects/events/workshops since I know the person who has a few ideas and wants to make it happen, I can donate clothes and shoes to the shelters, I can volunteer somewhere (I still need to do more research on this and find a place I could volunteer at), I can collect trash around my local playground, I can buy a meal for a homeless person, educate myself on some of the biggest issues in my city/country...

There's one more way in which Hozier inspired me and that is the guitar lessons I took. When autumn 2019. came around, his music was pretty much all I've been listening to, many live performances where he was singing and playing guitar. Then the end of December came around and free one month guitar course was organized here where I live. Of course, one month as a complete beginner is far away from Hozier's insane talent but it was the biggest inspiration for me to make a decision and take this chance. Perfect timing, Law of attraction, coincidence, inspired action - call it whatever you want but it was one of the best decisions I've made since I completely fell in love with guitar and definitely found my new passion. :)

I want to end this post with a little disclaimer: I obviously don't consider myself an activist, I was aware of some of the big, global problems and knew a little bit about it but I definitely want to learn more, gather more information and dig deeper into these topics as well as local problems and possible solutions. Also, there are so many different causes, organizations, projects, charities that you can support in any shape or form you're able to. I was just so inspired by this one individual and this Podcast so I wanted to share it with you. If you've read this entire post, thank you! It is very much appreciated! I would love to hear any advice you might have or your experience with taking action towards the positive change.