Today I want to talk about mental health, things I do to make things easier, the push that gets you over the final line, and just feeling good about yourself.
When I first started working in the music industry, it became really apparent that it wasn’t going to be easy after about a year. I made very little money as an assistant engineer, I spent 60 hour weeks working for very little money. I cancelled out a lot of things in my life for the sake of this career. Looking back, I would have changed little things, but those little things I would have changed, would have made a big impact in making sure I kept myself healthy.
Let’s focus a little bit on what people feel when being creative. As a producer/mixer, etc., I am inspired to create and when it goes really well, you are able to obtain some kind of feeling that you can’t even describe in words, and it’s incredibly addictive.
You have to remember to let yourself breathe, you have to let yourself take a moment, take time off. Give yourself other hobbies outside of that creative field. The biggest thing for me was finding something else that I was passionate about, that made me feeling the same as playing the guitar, piano, mixing & creating music. This is important because you can’t bet it all on that. As a creative person, there have been times in my life when things didn’t go where I wanted them to go. The people I was working with didn’t do the things I was hoping they were going to do, and sometimes it can be devastating. Sometimes you can have a lot of those and it snowballs into something bigger.
A lot of people talk about how obsessive and passionate you become and then when you fail, it feels like your heart was broken because you put everything into it. I’ve been there, and the only thing I knew I could do was get back on the horse again and focus, because that is what I liked doing. You want to keep striving and keep working, but you also need to give yourself time to rest. Give yourself a weekend away from your guitar, from mixing, from playing with your band. You will find that having that second hobby or second passion will let you breathe in to new life and it will show and reflect in what you do. You have your entire life ahead of you, you don’t have to arrive at the finish line tomorrow.
If you are struggling, there are organizations that are there to help. MusiCares is one of those organizations, and they are there to help out musicians who are struggling, so do not hesitate to reach out to them if you feel you need help.
