LETTERS
From Issue #18
Editor's Letter
I CAN'T GO ON!
I know the old advice: one step at a time, but sometimes
each step can be so agonizing that it only brings you closer
to quitting. That was me at the Chicago marathon. It was
my first attempt at 42 GRUELING kilometres and after the
first hour or so I was ready to make a left off of the course
and take the short cut to the runner’s rest area. I had had
ENOUGH. My legs hurt and I suddenly didn’t see the point of
putting myself through this.
“Life’s hard,” says Joel Madden of Good Charlotte,
“but you gotta keep going.” (See Living Proof, pg.20).
This obviously sounds like good advice but I know when
you’re in the thick of things…it’s not that easy.
So, maybe it’s not, but who says it’s supposed to be?
Chuck Comeau of Simple Plan says, “Most people we meet
are not happy.” (See The World Gone Crazy, pg.26) But really, anyone who thinks life is supposed to be problem
free, with NO hard choices, NO pain, NO tears and NO bad days
is living in denial. I don’t mean to sound cynical, but
how can you appreciate a warm spring day without living
through a blizzard?
I’m slowly starting to learn that it’s those really tough
moments that offer you the opportunity to define who you
are. What do you do when the going gets tough? Do you
pack up and give in? Or do you dig in and move forward?
Star designer and head stylist for mega-celebs Mary-Kate
and Ashley Olsen, Judy Swartz says if you persist and
work really hard you’ll naturally progress, (see pg.56).
And for the Trews guitarist John Angus Macdonald and
the rest of the band, “Try, try and try a few hundred times
more,” seems to have worked (see pg. 32).
Turns out running the marathon wasn’t just a race for me,
but a chance to see what I was made of. I FINISHED. I don’t
know exactly what it said about me but I know how I felt
when I crossed the finish line — and honestly I don’t think
it would have felt so good if I hadn’t gone through hell
to get there.
Don’t give up.
Good reading!
Thanks again to Nike and Mike Beleza for your support, and to Alana, Scott and Z for being the best curb crew in Chicago!
Faze Editorial Assistant, Maya, enjoys some down-time with a couple of the guys from
Simple Plan, Sebastien (left) and Jeff.
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