The philosopher Alan Watts wrote a book with this title. In it, he says that we should all always be insecure because, of course, there is never any security in life at any time except in whatever immediate moment you are experiencing, one second at a time. That is obvious but it is also something we resist and refuse to address. It is absolutely true that you can plan to do something in a minute or five minutes or a week, but that life could interfere and make carrying out those plans impossible.
On the other hand, given the nature of our minds, it isn’t really sane not to plan and plan well. It seems reasonable to look into the future and mentally sketch out what you would like to do or where you would like to be. Many courses and books exist on this very topic. Business runs on sales projections and Wall Street futures traders do, too. Nevertheless, being able to make adjustments to whatever plans one makes is a good personal asset.
The delicate balance of staying present in the moment and looking to the horizon with your map of your destination clearly in front of you is a big part of succeeding in life. You cannot stop the flow of life, even if you were to use all your will and effort, time will go on, your body will continue to do what bodies do, and consequences will inevitably show up. If you believe in the hereafter, you could think that life even goes on after life is over…………that time really does not end.
While we can work on vocal technique, we can cultivate our capacities to use the voice with greater skill, great expressiveness, more subtly, more refinement or power, and we can work on making singing significant in our lives in all kinds of ways, we can never be absolutely certain that the singing will always be there, or be there as it is now or was before. There is no ‘always’ in singing, and part of the mystery/fear is that it only exists while we do it. When we are done, it goes into hiding, and if we do not take it out of this hiding place, after a while, we could forget where it went and never really find it again. Worse, it can get lost or taken away and we can search for it but never really find it. We could go on with our lives in every other way, since singing is not a life or death activity, and no one would be the wiser about the loss if we did not discuss it.
Don’t settle into a false sense of security about your singing voice. Remember every day that it will always be an unknown before and after it is happening. We can never know the voice completely and constantly. There is wisdom in being with the insecurity.