Practicing Curiosity

Hey there! Lots to share with you this week! Thanks for sticking around for all the fun. First off…the big name reveal. Vanna…

Huzzah for Marcus Royce! And all the new people, new opportunities, and new fun to be had!

I did the big name reveal this past Friday on Facebook and Instagram. Hope you get to watch the video—it’s super silly. At the end of the video where I announced my new name, I also announced that the first single “What I Want” is releasing this Friday (9/1) everywhere you stream or download. (You can hear part of it at the end of the video! Or heck, you can go pre-order it and hear a clip on iTunes right now!)

I also released Mark Smeby - The Collection this past Friday to all the digital outlets where you stream or download music. It’s ten of my most favorite Christian songs that I’ve recorded over the years. Want to know the behind-the-scenes reason for this? Here’s why: I’m pulling all the Mark Smeby albums I’ve recorded off all the places where people stream and download music, and leaving up just this one Collection. I will begin releasing music under my new name into the pop market, and some of this music (at least for starters) will be songs I’ve already recorded (but as I’m finding out, are ones most people haven’t heard!).

FAIR QUESTION: So is Marcus Royce different than Mark Smeby?

That is totally a fair question. (And happy State Fair to all the Minnesotans celebrating this week!) My answer: Nope. I’m still me, I’m always going to be me. And honestly, I finally feel like I know who I am for the first time in my life. That’s another part of what makes all of this so exciting. It’s as if I had been living my whole life—ESPECIALLY my time doing Christian music—trying to get people to tell me who I am. To tell me that I had worth and value because of all the good I was doing, and how much people liked me, and were impressed by something I did. That was a recipe for misery, that unfortunately, I didn’t realize until the past few years. I’m ecstatic to be off that dysfunctional caravan!

So with this new freedom to be me, and to explore what it means to be brave, I’m deciding to explore new ground—without dismissing my talents or experience whatsoever. I’m soaking in curiosity, and it’s awesome.

Mark Mason is one of my favorite writers—he offered this wisdom in his newsletter this week:

Curiosity cures: anxiety, ignorance, selfishness, extremism. 

Curiosity creates: empathy, compassion, knowledge, growth. 

Curiosity prevents: arrogance, judgment, stagnation. 

Practice curiosity.

Isn’t that cool? I love it.

He continues by asking:

In what area of your life could you benefit from being more curious? It could be about the people around you—it could be about the world or society you live in. It could be about the person you spend the most time with. What would happen if you were more curious?

Curiosity drives so much of my daily life, and is fueling my current big goal chasing. I wake up curious about what might happen today. Whom might I talk to, get an email from, or run into accidentally? What will I hear or read that will captivate me and enhance my life?

Personally, I’m super curious about what I’m capable of doing. I’m curious what I might accomplish, but honestly, it’s more about discovering how I might be able to maximize my skills and experience to do things I’ve only dreamed of doing. For instance, I wonder how good of a singer I could actually be if I really worked on it…so I took some voice lessons with a pro. I wonder if I can build my business of being a musician better than I ever have done…so I’m trying new approaches and investing in completely new ways.

It keeps life super exciting to be curious and adventurous. And brave.

I hope to keep encouraging you on your path of bravery. Let’s all pull out our superhero capes and see what kind of good we can do in the world!

Oh, and do you like the slight redesign I’ve done? I love working on graphics and the such, especially when you land on something that just feels right.