On February 27, 2019, I got the chance to see the Gin Blossoms perform live for the first time. They were one of my favorite bands from the 90’s, and this concert was a special performance where they were playing the entire New Miserable Experience album from beginning to end. This album featured many of their hits such as “Hey Jealousy”, “Found Out About You”, and “Until I Fall Away” to name a few. These were songs that brought back a lot of memories for me from my college days, and I was looking forward to night full of music that was nostalgic for me. I certainly got that.
Their performance of the album was anything but a miserable experience. “Hey Jealousy” sounded every bit as good as it did when I first heard it in 1992. I still felt the passion behind the words in “Until I Fall Away”, and when they closed the concert with “Follow You Down,” (which was not on the New Miserable Experience album, but was still a big hit for them), it had the whole room rocking. To put it bluntly, these guys still sounded as good as ever.
While all these songs were amazing to hear live, for me none of them were the best song they performed that evening. Before starting the performance of the album in full, they opened the concert with a song from their latest album called “Break.” After they finished the song, everyone around me was mentioning how they were absolutely blown away by it and went on about how beautiful it was. I am convinced if they wrote and released this song in the 90’s it would have been a huge hit for them. In speaking about the song in Billboard, lead singer Robin Wilson said, “I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written.” It is hard to disagree with his statement with lyrics such as the following:
You can always hope that somehow you can rise above
Empty bottles and regrets always piling up
We don’t always want what’s easy, never is enough
Not what I set out to be but more than what I was
And I won’t break
I won’t let it break my heart
You can always walk a hard line, you can stand alone
But, when your dreams die fast they all return as ghosts
Looking out from under shadow, blinded by the sun
With my eyes wide shut, I stare and soak it up
And I won’t break
I won’t let it break my heart
I crawled out from under
Cost of love
I fall and rise above
And I won’t break
The song’s lyrics go further, but the point here is seeing this is a well-written song that came later in the band’s career. These are lyrics that may have not been possible earlier in Robin’s career. These are lyrics that show sign of life experience. Sometimes the best work we do in our lives is something we need build up to. To paraphrase the song, sometimes our lives take us places where we do not set out to be, but we can still become more than who we were.
It is appropriate a band named the Gin Blossoms wrote this song as many of us are what I, (and many others), call a “Late Bloomer.” I count myself in this category with my many transformations of growth and success happening later in life. Late Bloomers are people who do not find themselves, develop themselves to their potential, or challenge themselves until after they have had some life experience. Once they do, they often thrive. Robin Wilson did not develop these lyrics until later in his career. He did not write these deeper lyrics until he had some life experience.
We have many other examples of these Late Bloomers in society and throughout history. We often romanticize their rags-to-riches type of stories. However, while on the surface it appears as a rags-to-riches story, usually these changes do not happen overnight. Usually, these are the dreams that return as ghosts for the person. In my life, when I was miserable working on the factory floor, I dreamed of better career for myself. When I was overweight, I dreamed of being healthy and thin. I eventually accomplished these dreams, but not until I conquered yet another ghost in my lack of confidence of course. The important thing is I kept working at it until I accomplished my dreams. It was not easy, and it did not happen overnight. However, eventually through the proper self-care I bloomed. This is how I bloomed late. I did not break.
With this said, it is never too late to challenge yourself to do your best work and chase your dreams. What dreams have returned to you as ghosts? How will you bloom or blossom in the future if you want to or need to? What can you do in your life to not break?
Below is the music video for “Break” shared from the Gin Blossoms’ official You Tube page. I do not own the rights.
Entry – January 8, 2021