Let me preface this list by saying that in no way, shape or form do I confuse myself for famous. But it's certainly not every day that you find yourself in front of 15 million new people, performing for the judges on The Voice. That kind of sudden platform will teach you a thing or two about human nature. So, here are three things I've picked up so far...
1. Marriage is suddenly an easier prospect.
Have you ever been proposed to by a perfect stranger? "Well, of course not you idiot, that's crazy. No one does that." That would've been my answer too, up until a few weeks ago at the beginning of all of this. The night I appeared on The Voice for the first time, I got a wonderfully written email on my Facebook fan page from a lovely lady in Texas who asked me to come to Texas, promised me that she was perfect for me, mentioned that her blonde hair fell all the way past her "booty" (her word choice, not my own), and that I could "read her like braille." She then mentioned that she and I were meant to be together forever, and asked if I would consider just marrying her. I do admire her for getting straight to the point. So, I got straight to the point and hit the delete button. Regardless, it was a very interesting and eye-opening experience.
2. Friendships are hard to maintain.
By necessity, and sometimes by choice, I lead a pretty selfish life in a lot of ways. My schedule is never constant, my plans change without warning and I'm never in the same place for very long. I've had really good friends tell me that they can't handle the craziness, and that they feel like I take the friendship for granted. I've had many of the same friends decide that the friendship isn't worth maintaining all because of the irregularity of my time. I have no hard feelings towards those people. In fact, I truly respect their honesty. But for those friends who understand that this is a dream I've been pursuing for years now, who put up with all of the nonsense because they know that it means the world to me, for those friends who don't mistake my long silences for indifference, I really do thank you deeply. Thanks for hanging in there, because I know it sucks sometimes.
3. Every once in a while we all need to be recognized on the street while we are picking up dog poop...
Roman emperors used to have guys whose only job was to walk behind them whispering, "you are only a man." If you're a history fanatic and I got some of those details wrong, forgive me. My only point is this: Sometimes, it's good to be reminded not to take yourself so seriously. On 42nd St. and Sixth Avenue, my dog, Jordan, decided it was time to go to the bathroom. And of course, being the good New Yorker that I am, I bent down to pick up his gift. At that very moment, a really nice gentleman very excitedly said... "I saw you on TV! You did an amazing job! Can we take a picture for my fiancé!?" I was flattered, being that this is still a recent phenomenon for me. I also realized it's really hard to be chic with dog poop in your hand. So, I dropped all pretenses of chic, along with the poop bag, and took the picture, and we were all happier for the experience. The moral of the story? Dog poop teaches us humility -- or something like that.
WATCH: Blessing Offor on "The Voice"