Interview

After years of struggle, emotionally and artistically, Christian singer-songwriter Barb Elyett achieved her goal of launching a CD, The Simple Side, during the Fall of 2007. To encourage others to achieve their dreams, she discussed the challenges and satisfactions of achieving her goal.

Q: When did you first conceive of your CD project? 

A: Recording a CD has been my dream for a long time. However, as one of my favorite speakers says..."God often has a dream ready for us but he doesn't yet have us ready for the dream." This statement describes me perfectly. I spent years developing my voice, then persevering in the craft of songwriting, then overcoming loads of emotional and psychological obstacles to finally get to where I am today. For some, recording a CD is no big deal. For me, it was huge.

The concept for the CD started taking shape on its own after I had made a decision to completely revamp my life to make discovering who I truly was as an artist my priority. As I devoted the majority of my time to my craft and daily worked at expressing my heart through my music, the songs seemed to resonate with a unifying theme that I later realized reflected my own desire for simplicity. Not only simplicity in the physical things of life but more so the simplicity that comes with knowing who you truly are and expressing that. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I had been yearning to get back to and stay on "the simple" or "God-side" of life once again. Hence, the title "The Simple Side."

Q: What were the major challenges/obstacles that you faced along the way toward achieving this goal?

A: Hmm, probably a better question would be "what major challenges/obstacles didn't you face in achieving your goal?" :o) I dealt with everything from my embedded childhood belief of "the starving artist....why in the world would you ever pursue something as ridiculous as music....why don't you do something practical with your life...stuff; a feeling of low self-worth that wreaked havoc on every area of my life; a feeling that I was never truly loved for who I was and therefore had to be someone else in order to be accepted and loved; the petrifying fear that came with the low self worth issues instilled in me about expressing who I truly was....and especially expressing my heart so openly via singing or through a song; a constant feeling of guilt when I did something I enjoyed - especially music; the tremendous fear of failure that was tied to my self-worth, that said "if you fail at this...you're worth nothing..."; overcoming the fear of expressing my heart through music; dealing with the intense loneliness of pursuing a personal dream; fighting with a lifetime full of negative voices that kept reprimanding me for doing something I loved and not doing something "practical,"; stepping out and standing up for my dream daily on my own; all the negatives I had experienced in regards to music in my past.....and the list goes on and on....

Q: How did you overcome those challenges?

A: I've always had this ever nagging voice inside of me that has refused to settle for anything less than being a singer, songwriter and recording artist. I overcame those challenges the good 'ol fashion way....through sweat, tears, determination, perseverence and refusing to give up. That's it. There was no magic, no fairy dust, no profound deliverance...just one step, then another, then another...

Q: Did you make any mistakes along the way that you can share?
I ruined about 80% of my first pro photo shoot for "The Simple Side" and lost about $500 because I didn't speak up when the hair stylist I hired styled my hair in a 'do' that hmm....how do I say this....well...made me look like a member of The Addam's Family...

In recording "Thorns and Fragrant Roses" and "Falling Forward," I practiced so hard for days prior to my studio time and lived on about 4 hrs sleep that when I got to Vancouver for my recording session and laid down the tracks, my producer sincerely stuttered not knowing quite what to say and said... "um....yeah.....hmm....it's strange but for some reason your voice sounds like a 15 year old kid today...." My voice had shrunk and sounded like I was a mile away from the mic because it had been severely overworked...plus I was dead tired.

The whole time I was recording the album I had such a fear of getting sick and not being able to sing my best in studio that I kept manifesting that fear in my life. Over and over, one after another I kept getting sick. Luckily, all the songs did however manage to get recorded in my best voice. My "sick time" however did prolong the project.  

I wasted a lot of time fearing a lot of "what if's" that never happened.

What did you do right?

- I never compromised excellence and getting something done exactly the way I wanted it.

- I put the integrity of each song at the forefront and wouldn't let that be compromised.

- I accomplished what I set out to do.

- I chose the most perfect producer for my project.

- I didn't give in to the misconceptions I was fed about creating a CD.

- I fed my own dream and took self-empowerment to a new level in my life.

- I kept pressing through the hard times and loneliness by leaning and counseling with God constantly.

- I kept putting one foot in front of the other.

Q: Achieving a goal requires discipline. How did you develop yours?

A: Well, unfortunately I haven't fully mastered the art of discipline yet but I have learned a few things. For me, discipline is fueled by the nagging, insistent desire inside of me to do my dream. Another thing that helped me out a lot is really understanding that accomplishing anything worthwhile takes W O R K and hard work at that as well as lots of work that is studded with things you'd really rather not do. Until we realize that, goals are only wishful thinking.

- What other attributes or strategies do you think have helped you achieve this goal?

- stick-to-it-ivness

- perseverence

- a pressing desire for change

- a pressing desire to overcome obstacles

Q: When did you achieve this goal?

A: Well, formally, I released the CD this year. From a broader perspective, I achieved the goal the moment I decided to do it no matter what.

Q: How do you feel about that?

A: I'm very excited about it! It's so fantastic to hold a quality product in your hand that entirely expresses who you are. There's nothing like it!

Q: What have you learned from the process?

A: There is an unbelievably huge amount of wonderful things that I've learned from the process that have grown me by leaps and bounds and made me a better person. If I had to pinpoint the single greatest thing that I've learned, I'd say that it's how to live the phrase "if it's going to be, then it's up to me."

Q: What are some of your present & future goals?

A: My present goals are to continue to promote and market the CD through my self-owned label, Aleta Records. Down the road, I will continue making CD's of my original songs and I would like to expand into writing mini-books, recording teaching CD's, as well as creating motivational knick knacks that empower people to take full control of their lives and their God-given dreams and make them happen.

Q: Any advice you would like to share with readers with respect to achieving their goals?

Realize that your goals/dreams take W O R K and you're the only one that can put in the effort to make them happen.

No matter how long it takes and no matter how hard it is, don't live your entire life trapped by the opinions and lies of others.

Persevere through adversity and never stop dreaming

For more information about Barb Elyett's work, check out her website at: www.barbelyett.com/
 
Interviewed by Montreal, Quebec based journalist, Donna Glasgow