Two Feet at a Time—Behind the Music

“When you’re driving aimlessly, through the wilderness of your life, sometimes you gotta just take it two feet at a time…” That’s how my latest single, “Two Feet at a Time” opens. And boy, that is how life felt at the time of writing it, and sometimes still does. I wrote this song within ten minutes after having a conversation with a now new friend of mine at a Thai food restaurant in Franklin, Tennessee. I came back from a few-week stay in California and had a somewhat tumultuous break up with someone that I was seeing. At the same time, I was launching my music career and not knowing which direction I should go, how I should go about it, or even why. Life felt very foggy, just like the backroads of where I grew up on the California coast. In fact, when I was in California at the time, I drove one of those backroads with my cousin after dinner one night, and we could barely see but two feet in front of us to make it around the next bend; we had to take that drive very slowly.

As I recounted all of this to my new friend, she aptly said that “two feet at a time” would be a good title for a song. And I replied, “yes, like one, two, taking life two feet at a time,” with the idea of walking in mind, while she thought of it as two linear feet at a time, like driving a car. That’s the beauty of this song; sometimes we have to take life walking one step, two steps, one foot, two feet at a time. 

Leaving the restaurant that evening and thinking about everything she and I talked about, I quickly penned the song with a melody in toe. It was one of the easiest and most naturally written songs. It’s a reminder that sometimes simplicity is the most beautiful thing in life. When the song came together, I would have never imagined that just two days later, Nashville would forever be changed by a devastating tornado and that the world would be hit with a global pandemic. With all of this new uncertainty, we were literally forced to take life two feet at a time. 

The slower pace, uncertainty, and not being able to see what was up ahead around the next corner were absolutely debilitating. For me, I tried to remain filled with hope and listened to the lyrics of my song. I knew that the road I was going down would be good, even in the midst of tragedy. And sometimes that is how we need to take life; hope, optimism, and being realistic that there are circumstances that are just beyond our control. What we can control is ourselves, our own actions, and how we view the situation. If you always view life like you can make it to the other side, no matter what you are facing; it gives you a greater perspective on why it is happening in the first place. And that’s how I’ve chosen to live my life. 

Now, almost a year and a half since penning “Two Feet at a Time,” the song has only grown in significance and meaning for me. I’ve found that when you write lyrics, you have an understanding of them at the time but as time goes on, they take on a new and deeper meaning. As I continue to traverse through some challenging times, particularly with my music, I’ve leaned on God as he continues to guide me down the right path even if I can’t see what is around the bend.

I’ve learned that the “around the bend” is actually the fun and adventure in life. Life itself is one big journey but is also the destination. By putting my faith and trust in God, I’ll always have another day, another adventure. That’s when life becomes all the more meaningful.