Espirit

Her heartbeat thundered loudly enough that she could feel it reverberate through her chest as she fiddled with the earpiece hidden behind her carefully styled hair. Focusing on the intricate pattern of the thick curtain, the only thing separating her from the cacophony of the crowd beyond the stage...she gently reminded herself to breathe. 

Behind her, her backup singers and dancers chatted with ease as if all of them had been raised for the stage and this was just another mundane day for them...although come to think of it, they had all worked hard to get here and many of them had been training since they were just kids for this world...she had been thrust into it almost overnight.

Now that she knew she was an empath, an introvert, a lone soul...her childhood characteristics and behaviours certainly made sense, in fact, they shaped her into the young adult she now was. The woman whose sensitive nature and characteristics now touched millions of hearts around the world rather than act as fuel for the bullies she faced as she grew up.

Her long days daydreaming throughout hours of uninteresting classes, doodling song lyrics on her notebooks as she used the melodies running through her head and the written word to process the onslaught of emotions she felt day in and day out that pummeled her sensitive nature and inner spirit. Who would have thought that her very spirit, the one labelled ‘ too sensitive’ and to ‘man up’ would end up being her path to success, her path to help make the world a little better through spreading the infectious healing energy the world so desperately needed?

Her assistant met her bewildered gaze with an encouraging and gentle but firm push towards the drapes and without a second thought, Espirit was centre stage at the Australasian tour leg of the International Aid relief concert as a headline act. The 21-year-old headline act that had seemingly appeared from her sleepy town of Bega in NSW overnight and taken the music industry under her command, not just domestically but on an international scale.

With her lilting Aussie twang, her wild dirty blonde curls and natural looks she was exactly what the masses had been craving apparently. What they didn’t realise...at least on the surface but her intuitive and empathetic soul, the intimacy of the link to her spirit and country is what they craved. It’s what everyone searched for...meaning and happiness, their purpose...conformation that they were not simply just a human shell.

Her ability to translate the world around her and convey it through her passion had the masses flocking to see this physically young prodigy, yet with a soul far beyond her age. Inhaling deeply, she turned her gaze to the darkening horizon. It was as if her home was reaching out to her, her roots reaching out to her to in comfort...like an old friend’s embrace. The dark silhouette of the mountains glowed eerily against the vivid sunset...brilliant shades of oranges, reds...pinks and yellows that were gradually being taken over by the twinkling navy tapestry of the approaching night.

She could almost smell the sweet aroma of newly cut paddocks and hear the first cicadas farewelling another day. The roar of the crowd as she flashed a genuine smile and waved at the masses reminded her of the kookaburras, nature’s in-built alarm clock and she was instantly calmer. She could do this. This was a part of her. It was an honour for her to be able to do what she loved, what she wanted to do. While she never expected for her way of coping with the world to be what thrust her onto the public stage...you didn’t always get to choose your path. In fact, the universe often chose it for you and that’s exactly what she knew was happening. 

She had never been one for the popular music scene. She wasn’t against it, she just didn’t show the intensity of her emotions through dance anthems or catchy beats. Her sound was what others described as ‘Earthy’ or ‘ Indie’. I guess from their perspective it was. To her, her music came through her...it wasn’t of her. Days spent writing as she explored her families thousand-hectare farmland, deep in the heart of regional NSW. Gaia’s energy pouring through her veins, running through her bare feet or from the expansive sky above her. 

The open-air stadium reminded her of this, the same stars twinkling high above her from far off places. The same stars she studied by the warmth of an open fire in winter and from midnight swims in summer. The same stars that she watched as she birthed animals in spring and had sleepouts in the barns in Autumn with her brothers. They were out there somewhere in the now hushed crowd. As she instinctively went through her tuning routine, her fingers plucking out the various chords automatically she felt out for them. She could feel her family out there, silently supporting her as they walked her journey with her, supporting her along the way.

While she knew it was right in the middle of the busy season for the farm her parents had still decided to take the family on an impromptu trip to watch her first large scale televised performance. While they didn’t make a huge fuss as to not overwhelm her she knew it was a much bigger deal than they were letting on...their presence was evident enough.

The crackle of ‘ Whenever you are ready Espirit’ in her ear from the slightly staticky radio had her closing her eyes for the briefest of moments, a silent private moment to prepare herself energetically as she psyched herself up for the emotional rollercoaster she was about to go through.

Every time she performed her music, it came deep from her very core. It came from beyond her core, from the universal energy itself...she was simply the channel. She wasn’t one of those artists’ that simply crooned out others lyrics for a paycheck, fame or had lost interest in their own songs and simply performed on autopilot...their passion was gone. For her, the passion drove her, the vibrational flow.

So with a steady inhale she flicked her wild mane back and flashed a genuine smile as the familiar energy welled up within her and she began the starting notes.