Meet Seth Kaye

We recently connected with Seth Kaye and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Seth, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
Historically, I’ve spent much of my life nursing a (probably) unhealthy disposition toward pessimism. I think that comes from some family of origin roots and maybe some routine character defects on my part, but the past few years have brought me a lot of opportunity to work on that pessimism and I’m just recently getting to a place where I feel proud to describe myself as an optimist, and mean it. A few years ago I went through a pretty rough season of burnout and it really cracked me open in terms of having to face some very profound frustrations and disappointments that had worked their way into my heart. I had some pretty deep-seeded and unaddressed feelings about how my life was panning out, and how successful I was perceiving myself to be in regard to where I wanted to “be” in life – both relationally and vocationally. I’d become pretty bitter and exhausted to the point that I just broke all the way down.
That season began what will likely be a lifelong pursuit of mental wellbeing that I hadn’t cultivated prior to burning out. I just hadn’t seen some of those blindspots yet. I was in my late twenties and still so young. But that time just blew the gate wide open and there’s a lot of sadness that was revealed beneath all of the day-to-day living that seemed to be “alright,” or at least “fine.”
When I burned out I discovered that there was this tiny, vulnerable seed of sadness hiding behind so much of my anger, disillusionment and disappointment. Sadness had suited up in all this armor and presented itself as irritability, short-temperedness, bitterness, despair and pessimism.
The moment I had that realization I was immediately able to start taking different steps in different directions. All of a sudden, thanks to what felt like nuclear meltdown, I was able to make a choice about how I approached, engaged with and treated my sadness. I could step into this proverbial (but still very real) cage match with my wounds and my disappointments and choose to fight for joy – almost on behalf of my sadness – as if to protect it.
I think there’s some teeny tiny truth in there somewhere about sadness and joy being the same little plant – or at least the same seed from which either joy or sorrow will grow.
Essentially, my burnout led to me learning the ability to take the reigns and practice some self-control in regard to how I handle whatever life throws at me. All of this self-awareness was able to bloom and blossom from within the garden-like context of the faith that I have in Jesus of Nazareth. I believe that he was God, in human form, willingly subjecting himself to the human experience so that he could identify with me and share in my grief – even just the difficulty of being a human on planet earth. I also believe that he truly suffered in the same ways that I do (and so much more), and that makes him the most identifiable, kind, compassionate and selfless man to ever live. His selflessness, and ultimately his willingness to die for my sake, makes him the truest friend I could ever know.
So, in light of what Jesus did while he was alive, I have the courage and the strength – and what’s more, the compulsion and inspiration – to choose joy rather than to dwell in sorrow.
I can look my sadness in the eyes with the same compassion that Jesus would look into mine, and that has given me the priceless gift of an optimism that, now more than ever, outweighs the pessimism that I might have endured otherwise.
I’m grateful that my burnout showed me the open gate to optimism, and I’m so relieved that I have the perfect example of perfect optimism in Jesus.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a songwriter, building a new micro-genre that I’ve coined “Cinematic Singer-Songwriter.” I grew up on filmscores and soundtrack music (shout out to the “Remember the Titans” soundtrack that changed my life), and that has had a profound influence on my sonic landscape and writing style. I am currently performing and releasing music under this project title, MASSIVESAD, but my goal is to be as prolific a writer as possible, so I have other (currently secret) projects in the works as well (perpetually and at all times). I also produce for other artists, both locally and nationwide, and I really enjoy helping artists release their first batch of music. I’ve sort of found a niche there, because when I started sharing my songs, I didn’t have anyone to tell me what to do or how to do it. I had to figure everything out on my own (with my bandmates, of course), but now I enjoy expediting that process for other first-time-music-releasers. It brings me a lot of joy to sort of hold that gate open for friends and aspiring artists.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first thing that comes to my mind is Kindness. I’ve had so many people tell me how “kind” I am, and for years I would just brush that off as an all-too-common compliment, but these days I’m seeing that kindness may be the most valuable, important and enriching quality that I possess. Tenderheartedness in my relationships and work (hopefully) makes me a fun and safe person to be around and work with. Creating an environment of gentleness and kindness is something I try to do everywhere I go.

Bravery is the next thing that comes to my mind. Especially in the music industry, if you are fearful or hesitant or sheepish in the way you work with others or take on opportunities or responsibilities, then the dog-eat-dog nature of everything will just gobble you up and discard you. The willingness – and maybe even the excitement – to take risks is vital to achieving the goals that you have for yourself. Bravery also prepares you to stick up for yourself and stick to your goals when everyone around you is disinterested or apathetic or selfish or hostile. Risks are necessary, and they can be thrilling too.

Thirdly, I think I’ve had a healthy Disregard for what others think or expect of me. I wonder that I might have gotten through the majority of my life so far without being too discouraged by the opinions of others, or even painful critiques. That healthy, self-aware disregard, plus a little bit of (also hopefully) self-confidence will go a long way toward you sticking to the path you know you should be on. So many people will sap your energy by offering you opportunities that don’t serve the dream your working toward. So many people will do this without any harmful intentions or ulterior motives. It’s just part of life. People will want you to do one thing or another that doesn’t line up with you goals or your purpose, so you have to learn what to block out and what to welcome in. That requires a resolute desire to listen well and be aware, but to stick to your guns when you know you need to.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
During the summer between my freshman and sophomore years of high school, my parents sent me to a five week long summer camp in Woodland Park, Colorado called Eagle Lake. That was the first place that I ever encountered musicians, both my age and older, who weren’t starchy and plain elderly chapel leaders from my Christian private school. I met all these people who were lively and inspired and generous and talented musically, and that swept me up into the really powerful current of wanting to learn how to write and play music too. It was revolutionary for me to meet people I could look up to and respect more than just musically, but also in their character and the ways that they treated myself and others … and still, musically. That inspired me to go home, start teaching myself to play piano, learn acoustic guitar from my buddy and join every choir I could in school … and here I am sixteen years later. 15-year-old-me would die to see how far he’s come!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Mason “Sasquatch” Mansfeild

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Productivity
What do you do for self-care and what impact has it had on your effectiveness?

We asked some of the most productive entrepreneurs and creatives out there to open up

Resilience
Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of

Productivity
How do you keep your creativity alive?

Keeping your creativity alive has always been a challenge, but in the era of work