Fearless Living

Who do you want to be in this world? Who do you want to show up as? How do you want to express your unique version of you?

I recently watched Bohemian Rhapsody, the movie that focuses on the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen.

The film moved me.

If you haven’t seen it, I warmly recommend it.

My own first conscious encounter with the band Queen was through the song Another One Bites the Dust.

Released in 1980, I recall, back then, it was the coolest thing I’d ever heard. That forceful bass line. The singing style. The attitude.

Lean and raw.

I was twelve at the time and the song was a massive hit. All the kids at school had it beaming out of their cassette tape recorders. At the age of twelve we kids didn’t have money to buy all the records we yearned for. Instead we taped our favorite songs on our portable cassette tape recorders when the songs were played on the radio. We always hoped the radio presenter would refrain from talking in the songs.

Another One Bites the Dust was played all the time.

These were exiting times. The time of the disco era. Being twelve it was the time of trying on make up for the first time. We girls had roll on lip gloss that tasted of strawberry, bubble gum, cherry and coca cola. I was very exited about the lipgloss I owned.

Another one of my most cherished belongings was an eye shadow with sparkly glitter. I adored it. To me, it expressed true magic.

At that age, to wear makeup in public was not on my radar. Experimenting at home was exiting enough. I remember trying on a bit of mascara and lip gloss on Friday and Saturday evenings, at home. Then seating myself to do some writing, feeling very pretty. I was beaming. In a shy, blushed and toned down kind of way.

I also remember Queen performing at the multi-venue benefit concert Live Aid held on Saturday 13 July 1985 . I think almost everyone my age was following that event. It was a beautiful hot summers day and I was watching Freddie Mercury perform from the comfort of my grandmothers couch.

The Bohemian Rhapsody biographical film brought back memories.

My personal recollections of Freddie Mercury are of him wearing his characteristic mustache. I’m to young to have experienced his long hair and black nail polish 70s look.

When he passed in 1991 I was living in New York City. A city also Mercury loved and spent time in.

What touched me about the film was the way Mercury was portrayed as both courageously pursuing his dreams and at the same time keeping his sensitive, vulnerable side intact. The way he dared to live out his most flamboyant expressions, bending the conventional views of gender. Many consider him to be one of the early exponents of the androgynous movement of our times, in the vein of David Bowie, with Mercury often seen as the more extreme one of the two.

Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, a British protectorate off the African coast. It is nowadays part of Tanzania. Mercurys parents were Persian-descended Parsees, from the Parsi community of western India. At the age of 8 Mercury was sent to a boarding school in India. It was during this time in boarding school he started being called Freddie by his peers and the name stuck. Mercury is a name he invented for himself years later and took on legally. His parents always continued to call him Farrokh. After school Freddie Mercury briefly returned to Zanzibar before a violent revolution in 1964 made the family move to Great Britain.

Mercury was 17 at the time. While his family kept practicing their ancient Zoroastrian faith, Mercury took a big and eager leap into Western culture – into fashion, art and pop music.

Freddie Mercury: The Untold Story is a lovely documentary where the film maker is unveiling Mercurys roots, also traveling to his former whereabouts in Zanzibar and India. Highly interesting.

What also moves me is how Mercury throughout his life kept in touch with his vulnerable and sensitive side. His relationship with his former girlfriend Mary Austin is touching. She is the one woman Freddie Mercury truly loved. Mercury and Austin lived together for some years in the early 70s. The couple remained close even after Mercury came out as gay. Throughout his life he referred to Mary Austin as his soulmate.

Mercury also left Mary Austin the majority of his vast fortune, including his impressive Georgian mansion in London. Austin still lives there. Mercury also trusted Mary Austin with his final wishes that she bury his ashes in a private place where no one would find it. She is the only one who knows where he lies.

As I tap into the energy of Freddie Mercury it feels amazing. His energy feels wonderful. Very loving. Very relaxed. Easy to be around. And he has a great sense of humor.

To him the movie Bohemian Rhapsody carries forth one perspective. There are always many perspectives to a story, to a life lived, he explains. The movie tells of one perspective. He says the movie has served a beautiful purpose. It has opened up a box of light and this light is flowing. You cannot put the light back in and close the lid. The movie has started something beautiful. Something deeply healing. Mercury also says he is happy that so many people have awakened to how this reality truly works. That more and more people are realizing that there is connection to all things in existence, also to people that have passed. That we are all eternal beings. Eternally interconnected.

Mercury is also very sensitive.

He talks about taking a stand for being who you are. For taking a stand for being who you are while you are a sensitive person. Not to change who you are just to please other people in your life.

“I help people feel they are not so alone, while they are trying to figure out who they are while they are trying to be themselves. Especially when the world sometimes doesn’t seem so friendly. “

Honor your sensitivity.

Mercury says anyone who feels lonely or in need of support can connect with him at any given moment. “Just start talking to me. It’s as easy as that. And feel me. Feel the area between your throat and your heart. You will feel me.”

Being who you want to be is a mindset. It is how you see yourself.

You did not come here to suffer.

You did not come here to feel small.
You did not come here to play small.

You came here to express yourself.

To be the happiest, the most fulfilled version of you.

You do so by connecting to what matters to you.

So, what is it that truly matter to you ? That what makes you feel eager and alive.