Fellow Gamecock Graduates,
It’s been about thirty years since we Blowfish were in a position similar to the one most of you find yourselves in this spring season: holding a valuable scroll, but facing a big world with a combination of hope and fear. And while you may have a combination of disappointment, disillusionment and doubt clouding your view as a result of this virus, we encourage you to at least figuratively keep moving through it, trusting there are clearer skies awaiting you.
If you are one of the lucky few that can already see the direct path that connects you to your career dreams, then you are just that: lucky. For most of us that isn’t the case. Even Hootie & the Blowfish, as we flung our graduation caps into the air (not rubbing it in), only knew with certainty that in a few short seconds those caps would be coming back down to earth. We had no coherent idea or strategy of how to reach a successful career in music. There were more unanswered questions than there were solid opportunities. It’s probably the same for most of you right now: more unknowns than knowns. Don’t let it scare you, even if it may be a little scary.
Maybe this time of stagnancy is where you discover some things about yourselves you never knew before. Maybe your dream needs a little time to develop, like ours did. Maybe it needs to marinate and simmer at low temperature on the stove a while longer. We’re telling you, the best meals in life take longer than ten minutes to create anyway. Hootie & the Blowfish were marinating for many years before we broke through to experience the success we had envisioned earlier. It was well worth the wait.
There will be a day when you, too, toss that cap high in the air and you sign on to work a good job. Sometimes it just takes longer than we think it will.
Peace, blessings and, most of all, patience to you all until that day.
Sincerely,
Darius, Dean, Jim and Mark
Hootie & the Blowfish