Thread by @personunsure

MY CABIN OPUS

a twitter thread

there is a story about bon iver's first album, "For Emma, Forever Ago"

in the midst of heartbreak and frustration, justin vernon stole away into the wilderness for an extended period of isolation

he returned, having recorded an album that would become an instant classic

for many of us, it was the first time we became aware of justin vernon

it seemed impossibly beautiful

the instrumentation, the falsetto, the purely distilled heartbreak

the quiet reverb of the wooden walls of a log cabin

for many years i believed this myth

of a man who, out of nowhere, locked himself away and created something beautiful

and i've believed it about myself

i've believed that the thing between me and greatness is the cabin

if only i had that space

if only i didn't have to keep a normal job

if only no one needed anything from me

i would do it

i would create my cabin opus

as it turns out, the story is only half true

yes, he was in a cabin. yes, he recorded the album

but it wasn't his first

it was his ~10th recording project

justin vernon had been earnestly tuning his craft

writing, recording, performing

for 10 years

with little acclaim or success

and an incredibly low point in his life

the isolation, the loneliness, the pang of failure

this became the platform for his breakout success

what looked like overnight success was 10 hard years in the making

and all i heard about was a mythical cabin

this is a common story

overnight success is seldom, if ever, overnight

it's the product of years of consistent effort

that suddenly becomes visible

maybe someday i will make my cabin opus

but i'm not waiting for life to hand it to me

i'm trying to put in the work every day, and let that be enough

put in the work. build. don't allow anything to get in the way of the things that need to be created right now