LOG ENTRY 004

The Day I Stopped Waiting

Dundee, Scotland

Every journey has a moment. A moment when dreaming stops...and doing begins.

For me, it wasn't dramatic.

There wasn't a lightbulb moment. Nobody knocked on the door with a suitcase full of money.There wasn't a headline saying..."This is your chance."

It was actually much quieter than that. It was a question. One that kept coming back to me over and over again.

"If not now... when?"

By this point in the story, you'll know Terra Nueva had already been following me for decades. The name. The vision. The idea of exploring new worlds. It had been there all along.

The strange thing was...

I kept finding reasons not to build it. I was too busy. I was touring. I was running venues. I was helping other people build their dreams. And, to be fair...I loved every minute of it.

Looking back, I don't regret any of those years. Not for a second.

Because every tour...

Every venue...

Every airport...

Every late-night problem...

Every artist...

Every mistake...

Every success...Was preparing me for something I didn't even realise I was preparing for.

People often ask me how I've managed to work in the music industry for over forty years. The answer is simple.

I never chased a career. I chased experiences. Without realising it, I was collecting pieces of a puzzle.

One conversation. One tour. One friendship. One lesson at a time. Then life decided to slow me down. Much more than I wanted.

Cancer has a funny way of changing your perspective. I'll talk more about that in another Journal because it deserves its own chapter. But there is one thing I will say. When you've spent months wondering what the future might look like...You stop assuming you'll always have another chance. You realise that "one day" is a dangerous phrase. One day can easily become...Never.

As my health slowly improved and I started getting back out into the world, I found myself asking that same question again.

"If not now... when?"

I'd spent forty years helping build other people's visions. Maybe...Just maybe...It was finally time to build my own. Not because I thought it would be easy. Not because I knew it would succeed. Simply because I knew I'd regret never trying.

The funny thing is...Once I'd made that decision...The pressure disappeared.

I wasn't trying to prove anything anymore. I wasn't chasing success. I wasn't trying to impress anyone. I just wanted to build something that brought together everything I'd learned throughout my career.

Music. Film. Technology. People. Community. Exploration. One place where all those worlds could meet. That's when Terra Nueva stopped being an old notebook full of ideas. It became a direction. A compass. Not a guarantee of where I'd end up...But a clear indication of where I wanted to go.

Looking back now...

I don't think the hardest part was building Terra Nueva. The hardest part was giving myself permission to begin.

Funny really. After forty years in an industry built around taking risks...The biggest risk I ever took...was betting on myself. And I'm still doing it. Every single day.

Anyway...

The coffee's gone cold again. I've got another meeting tomorrow. Another conversation. Another opportunity to move this expedition forward.

Little by little...That's how new worlds are built.

The journey continues... 🌍

Next Log: Why Dundee?

Stu