Taking Responsibility of Your Life with Humble The Poet
Hello our beautiful friends! Today we have a very exciting and long-awaited guest on the podcast – Kanwer Singh, professionally known as Humble The Poet. In this honest conversation, we dive deep into Kanwer’s life journey and discover how a child of Indian immigrants and a school teacher turned into creative personality, author, filmmaker, Hip-Hop and spoken-word artist, whose ideas and messages challenge conventional wisdom.
Back in 2014, Humble The Poet was an unemployed Tooronto-based rapper and school teacher with a big debt on his name, trying to do everything to pay his living. Soon he found himself lying in bed for 2 weeks, waiting for someone to save him. But, the reality was that he needed to wake up. And he did. Inspired by J.K Rowling’s quote about how hitting rock bottom can actually help rebuild yourself, Kanwer started writing ideas and things he was learning throughout his life experiences on Facebook, and that’s where Unlearn came from.
As a former school teacher, Kanwer was aware that if students didn’t understand the message, then there was something wrong with the way teachers communicate it. When he started his MC career, he realized that knowing how to speak to people would have a huge impact on their lives. So, Kanwer was honest, and the honesty of his words made him stand out. Humble The Poet was writing pragmatic, unapologetic letters to himself.
“I am not a teacher, I am a student who likes sharing his notes. And it’s not about being an authority or a guru. My ability is to put words together, so I put them together, and this is my contribution” - Humble The Poet
When Kanwer started sharing all the things he was struggling with, and talking to himself through the writing, he understood that everybody was going through the same things: anxieties about the future; regrets about the past and not spending enough time in the present; having unrealistic expectations; and feeling powerless and frustrated. He discovered how useless it was to feel like a victim of the situation, and from that way, taking a lot of ownership of his life decisions really inspired him to move forward.
Kanwer has never believed in luck, he’s always believed in effort and going the extra mile for his dreams. For him, to be an artist means to be open to all new and create things that don’t exist. He started in the pool with million people alike who wanted to be full-time artists. But it was his peculiar mindset, dedication, strong belief and obsession with his craft that made him achieve his dreams.
“The reason some artists give up in 5 years is because their art is a passion for them. I think you aren’t entitled to your passion, and the people who actually make their dreams happen aren’t passionate, they are obsessed. Entrepreneurs are obsessed with solving the problems. Artists are obsessed with creating – it’s their therapy, it’s their food and oxygen, and they have to do it” – Humble The Poet
And when success finally found Kanwer, it was more because of the consequence. What began as reciting spoken word poetry in coffee shops and gigs to impress girls, evolved into a creative adventure that Humble the Poet has been experiencing for the last 10 years, crossing different forms of art, channels and communities. For him, it wasn’t just creating art, it really was about defying odds and believing that he was that 0.1% of people who can get what they want.
Kanwer understood he needs to serve not only himself, but also his family and community. He decided to stop running away from his traumas, because he discovered that no one could avoid them. So, he figured out the best way to live this life happily is to turn around, face the past traumas and revisit them. For him, writing became the best healing therapy that made other people stop and find the root of the reason why they live in self-pity and hold themselves back.
“Self-pity is the easiest way to have connection with yourself. It’s like a fast food for your soul, but just like with the real fast food, it’s going to harm you. Challenge yourself to go 24 hours without complaining and you will discover that the quality of your life can dramatically improve” – Humble The Poet
Humble The Poet stimulates his audience with the idea that taking responsibility for yourself in your life and stopping to blame others is the only place where the power exists. He believes when we blame someone, we give our power of making decisions to them. We have the power to make things better, and when we realize what we could have done better, it makes us feel more powerful, because now we understand what changes and adjustments we need to make.
“Our memories exist there to learn from them, not to suppress. We only learn when things don’t go well. That’s why failure isn’t the opposite of success, failure is the pavement to success” - Humble The Poet
Today, the most rewarding part of Kanwer’s journey is what he is able to do for the people he loves – it makes him find gratitude for everything that he creates. To see the joy of his family and friends gives him a feeling of significance. Eventually, finding opportunities to enrich people’s lives is the most sustainable thing Humble The Poet can do right now, spreading around his honesty, wisdom and encouragement to live better.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s episode with Humble The Poet, you can find out more about him here:
Find Humble The Poet’s Books here:
Designed to inspire you to live your own dream life.
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Produced by Jason Sanderson - Podcast Tech
Show notes by Veronica Joce
