I want to take you on a journey.
I want to tell you the story of a man named Deacon…
Once upon a time, Deacon worked in an office and was totally bored with his life. He looked out the window of his office break room and saw the heavy hitters of his city on the streets below. Ramblers…gamblers…some might say. And he started getting jealous.
Deacon had a secret life that he chose to keep hidden. Every day, Deacon would come home and look in the corner of his tiny apartment. He’d look at the open case with the dust growing and piling up on his well-worn Selmer tenor sax and wondered what could have been.
All he wanted to do was work the saxophone and play just what he feels.
One day after work, he swings by a music supply store and buys a package of reeds. He attaches one to his horn’s mouthpiece and puts it to his lips and blows…his horn is hopelessly out of tune.
After he remembers how to tune his horn, he starts to practice. For years, he practices every night. Playing along with Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane songs and growing more and more confident.
The confidence begins to drip from his horn.
Flashing forward to a year later.
“Five minutes, Deac.” Deacon stands outside one of the iconic jazz clubs in New York’s East Village. The butterflies growing…
He takes one last drag from his cigarette, stubs out the butt, and drops it in a nearby receptacle. He walks through the club and takes the stand.
“I gotta say…I cried when I wrote this song. I hope I don’t play too long. But if I do…sue me.” Deacon picks up his horn and removes the mouthpiece cap.
This brother is free…
So often, men choose to put dreams in mothballs. We sacrifice our full self-expression and our authentic selves because we fall into routine and obligation.
The men who have chosen so bravely to expose and share their stories in the forthcoming book, The Expanding Man Chronicles, are doing what Deacon fought so long to do. We’re showing how being fully self-expressed helps us to be better leaders, fathers, partners, and men in this ever-evolving world. Bringing heart, presence, and full self-expression along the way.
Expanding the definition of what it means to be a man.
The more I read the stories these brave men are sharing, the more excited I’m becoming.
This is an important book.
With love and expansion,
Ryan
PS. While the story of Deacon is the plot of the iconic Steely Dan song Deacon Blues — it’s all too real for too many men in this world. It’s time to play what we feel.
