I Wish Kurt Cobain Was Alive

Kurt Cobain was an incredibly intelligent, gifted person, with a heart that felt too much. He wasn’t weak, he was strong, and his life left a great message of depth and artistic expression.

I got this shirt custom made a couple of years ago, because I see strength and unapologetic confidence in this quote. To me it means, I don’t care what you think of me, I’m not here to impress you. It is a statement of rebellion in opposition to what we’ve been encouraged to do all our lives, to be the best. “I am worse at what I do best”, in a way is saying, “This is what I can do best when I don’t compare myself to anyone, and honestly I don’t care TO compare myself to anyone. I’m the worse, according to your scale, when you bring others in? Great.” You don’t meet my standard, goodbye. You didn’t nod your head, insubordination. Life, but standing tall regardless of someone possibly defining you as “not good enough for them” takes mad courage, resiliency, and intelligence in seeing the subjective nature of it all.

Also this quote is like going to a secret place, where no one can see you and wholeheartedly enjoying your craft, practicing what you love, creating your form of artistic expression without anyone defining it as so, without anyone looking, without anyone to impress. Why? Because you love what you do even IF everyone were to say you are horrible at it or any other negative label invented in the dictionary. It’s not about them, tune them out, what is YOUR most genuine expression of YOU? What do YOU honestly enjoy regardless of public opinion?

We are taught to spend our lives appeasing the crowds, the customers, the demand, or those around us. Always self-conscious, wanting to outshine the other in order to be noticed and applauded as “the best”. There is another approach of genuine expression, an approach that requires no validation other than your own feeling of integrity in being you, dropping the masks, dropping the show.

Who are we when there is no one to impress? When there is no one with power or authority that we want to find good graces with? What do we really like? What do we really feel? Who are we really? It’s rare to go into this realm because much of our lives IS trying to not be a burden and to please, but when you are alone... just you and your mind... then you can ask yourself this and see what you find.