It takes strength to create. I mean, truly create...

It takes strength to cut out an idea that was easy to find but is just a cliche, especially when you know it will sound pleasing to people.

It take strength to avoid writing extremely complicated "works" that will sound completely random to the human cognitive process.

It takes strength to keep digging when your fingers are already raw.

It takes strength to wade through your own sh*t and not come out smelling like crap.

It takes strength to have the confidence to write something pretty, melodic and nice in the current new music climate.

It takes strength to stand face to face with that blank piece of manuscript everyday, not knowing if anything good will come out.

It takes strength to constantly push to the brink and be faced with the dark, empty unkown.

It takes strength to be faced with your own incompetence on a daily basis and still believe in yourself enough to keep going.

It takes strength to believe in yourself when your parents keep telling you to get a job, and you receive thank you cards from your credit card companies.

It takes strength to sit down and be creative when you only have 30 minutes before you have to go to work.

It takes strength to work when the kids are screaming upstairs, when the house is dirty, the dishes not done, when you have no clean underwear and that pile of laundry is calling out to you.

It takes strength to compose in a world where Bach and Beethoven have lived.