Time & Perspective Quote by Gavin DeGraw

There is a quiet confession tucked into DeGraw's wording: risk wasn’t a personality trait he was born with, it was a skill he had to learn. “I took a lot of time” frames courage as slow labor, not a lightning-bolt reinvention. That matters in pop-rock, a lane where you’re rewarded for being instantly legible and punished for getting weird. The line acknowledges the unglamorous timeline behind “artistic growth” - the years of playing it safe, the incremental tests, the private negotiations with your own taste and with an audience’s expectations.

The phrase “open myself up” suggests vulnerability more than ambition. Taking chances musically isn’t just about trying a different chord progression; it’s about letting people hear your influences, your odd instincts, the parts of your voice or writing that might not fit the brand that first got you attention. DeGraw came up in an era when radio formats and label strategies prized repeatable identity: you were “the guy who does that kind of song.” The subtext is that success can harden into a cage. Once you’re known for a certain emotional temperature - earnest, melodic, accessible - deviation feels like betrayal to listeners and a gamble to gatekeepers.

What makes the quote work is its modesty. He doesn’t claim he became fearless; he admits to becoming willing. That’s a musician describing a career not as a straight climb, but as an ongoing decision to trade a little security for a little more honesty.