Blog
Living A Recovered Life
The new single from Chris Swan is here!
This is the year of change and Gratitude is the second single in a series of "mindset-changing" songs by inspirational hip-hop artist Chris Swan. The song has a banging beat, a catchy sing-a-long hook, and clean, inspiring lyrics reminding us to focus on all the blessings in our life. Everything we want is right in front of us, we just have to choose to see it by practicing gratitude!
The new single from Chris Swan and Soul Motivation Records is coming on February 1st!
2019 is the year of change and Gratitude is the second single in a series of "mindset-changing" songs by inspirational hip-hop artist Chris Swan. The song has a banging beat, a catchy sing-a-long hook, and clean, inspiring lyrics reminding us to focus on all the blessings in our life. Everything we want is right in front of us, we just have to choose to see it by practicing gratitude!
The new single from Chris Swan is here!
Abundance is Chris Swan's first single of 2019 from Soul Motivation Records. The song was written to help us start the year with the right mindset. If we are thankful for what we have and we believe God will provide what we need, then there's no need to worry. There's plenty to go around when you are living abundantly!
The new single from Chris Swan and Soul Motivation Records is coming on January 1st!
The song is designed to help us start the year with the right mindset. If we are thankful for what we have and we believe God will provide what we need, then there's no need to worry. There's plenty to go around when you are living abundantly!
Oh yea, and it’s a jam.
The new single from Chris Swan is here and this time it’s a cover song!
“I have always loved this song and thought it would be cool to do a hip-hop version of it. I tried to take elements of the song that were already very hip-hop in nature and exaggerate them. I hope you dig it,” says Swan.
If you missed my CD release party for Welcome to the Fellowship, fear not. I had some great friends there who shot some video and I thought it would be cool to share it with you. Click play below to check out the videos.
P.S. If you haven’t got your copy of Welcome to the Fellowship yet, what are you waiting for? Get it here ==> BUY NOW <==
My new single is coming December 1st, 2018 and this time it’s my very first cover song - Fight Song by Rachel Platten!
I took this already awesome song and extracted the hip-hop elements from it and turned it into a hip-hop jam.
I can’t wait for you to hear it!
It’s here! My very first music video ever! It’s for my song Perfect. Check it out and be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
I know hearing other people's stories has been a huge inspiration in my recovery. So I thought I'd share mine. Hope you find some hope in it today.
Here’s a behind the scenes look at the making of Chris Swan’s sophomore release from Soul Motivation Records - Welcome to the Fellowship!
Just hit play below to take a look.
“My mission with this record is to help others overcome their obstacles and to find the hope that is waiting for them,” says Swan.
I am an alcoholic. Through and through. I have never been able to go out and have one drink. If I'm going to drink, I'm going to do it right. I am going to get drunk. And not just a little buzzed. I mean really drunk. But after years of drinking so much, it became really hard to get drunk. I was drinking Long Island Teas with Grand Marnier shots all night long. I remember, I would show up for gigs, down two long island teas and two shots of Grand Marnier back to back before I even started playing! It was becoming harder and harder to get drunk. Drinking became a chore. It wasn't fun anymore. And here's the real catch - I didn't even like the taste alcohol! I just liked the effect. So finally I found myself just trying to gulp down as much as I could as fast as I could, holding back urges to throw up, just trying to get drunk. I knew something had to change.
"Not looking back on what I use to see."
It wasn't until I ended up in the ER with severe heart palpitations that I realized this was a life or death situation and all this madness was not worth dying for. I lied there on the gurny while they were running tests on me just thinking "What am I doing?" I remember, hearing someone in the room next to me crying out in pain. It was so heartbreaking and I knew that would be me soon if I didn't make a change. I decided then and there to quit drinking. That was over 2 years ago now and I haven't had a drink since!
"Stronger now than I was before."
The real miracle is that after I quit drinking, I continued to work in bars every night. I had to sit there and watch everyone else getting drunk and having a good time, while I drank water and watched in envy. It was really hard for the first 3 months or so. I would feel pretty bitter most of the time and just get out of there as soon as my gig was done. But as time passed, I grew stronger. I just couldn't stop thinking about how miserable I felt all the time when I was drinking. I was in a constant haze everyday, perpetually hung over. No energy. Little motivation. In the worse physical shape I've ever been in in my life. There was no way I was going to go back to that life, so I hung in there night after night. Day after day.
"You can't take this life from me, don't mess around anymore."
Now, I can't even imagine going back to that life of drinking. I feel so much better, yes, but I also feel a freedom I never felt when I was drinking. There is something really beautiful about letting go of an obsession or addiction. It lets you enjoy life again. It lets you feel emotions again. Drinking was stealing my joy away one shot at a time. I thought it was making me happy but it was really making my life miserable. I was caught in a cycle of obsession that I couldn't get out of. There is no way I could go back to that life now. Don't get me wrong, I get tempted occasionally just like everyone else. But all I have to do is go back to that night in the ER in mind, remember how miserable and scared I felt, and any temptation I was feeling disappears.
I am so grateful to be sober over 2 years now. Most of my friends and family have been really supportive of my choice to quit. But some people don't get it. Misery loves company and often I encounter people who want to buy me a drink and don't quite understand why I would say no. So I wrote a song along with Chela Mancuso (an incredibly talented singer and songwriter) about these experiences called The Mess Around. I'm excited for you to hear it! It's all about living a sober life in an alcoholic world. It's my declaration to those who don't get it.
I don't mess around anymore. I got things to do.
