It's important to have a balance between work and life no matter what your profession is. When I'm not completing my training towards becoming a Master Architect, I find enjoyment in music - listening, playing, watching, collecting, you name it. My idea of "vacation" these days is taking a week off to go to the middle-of-nowhere-Tennessee to stand for hours on end under the merciless Southern Sun to listen to some of the best musical acts from around the globe. Yes, I put on my hippie camouflage for four days to join music-lovers from across the country (and even the globe, hard to believe) to attend Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. I was never much of a camper growing up. I did Girl Scouts during my elementary school years, but the closest we got to camping were sleepovers in each others basements...with a touch of arts and crafts and S'mores over a fire-pit. Yup. Being a Brownie was hard stuff. ANYWAYS, my point is, I don't have much, if any, camping experience, and this is a camping festival. For most non-camping-enthusiasts, this would be a problem. I don't travel to the middle of nowhere to camp for the fun of it; I do it for the music.
Despite my minimal camping experience, I somehow find a way to survive the ruff and rugged lifestyle. Sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone to experience the best of what life has to offer. It's hard to explain what makes the trip to Bonnaroo so enjoyable for me, but the atmosphere there is a big part of it. There's something quite fascinating about seeing people so different come together for one purpose and live peacefully with 0 cares in the world. You see people from all walks of life, of every age, shape and size standing next to you as you wait for your favorite band to come on; doing interpretive dances with hula-hoops like no one is watching; or catching some z's under the shade of a large tree. What more can I say? It's a jolly good time. Not to mention, I get to see a handful of my favorite artists all in one spot - Royal Blood, Alabama Shakes, Earth Wind & Fire, Bleachers, Florence + The Machine, Twenty One Pilots, D'Angelo and the Vanguards...the list goes on and on! When my view isn't blocked by some giant in front of me (which with my luck is usually the case), I get the chance to see something truly amazing - people like you and me doing what they love. A lot of these artists never imagined in their wildest dreams having the chance to play at a festival like this, and now that they're here...well, that's a feeling you can't quite put into words.
For any music-lover or hard-core festival-goer, this is the place to be. "The Farm," as we call it, is truly a magical place. It's amazing to watch 90,000 + people come together and live by the motto "Radiate Positivity." I think the world could use a bit of the Bonnaroo spirit...in moderation, obviously, because the world may implode if "flower girls" skipped around and took selfies everywhere. BUT maybe if we started radiating more positivity through a simple smile or a small act of kindness, who knows what kind of difference it would make! |