Today I want to talk to you about mindset. I have been struggling in my personal life a lot in the last year. My anger and stress levels were increasing as well as my ability to have a decent relationship with my own family. I lost my father to cancer over the summer this year as well. That just pushed me over the edge and I stopped writing music. The inspiration wasn't there anymore. I gave serious thought to selling all my music gear and quitting. If you can't tell, I didn't take that course. Today I want to begin to share with you how I am overcoming the obstacles that have almost made me give up.
As some of you may already know, I am five years sober from an alcohol addiction. I thought that was a fairly easy addiction to deal with. Attend meetings and work the 12 steps and follow God. Boy was I wrong. Being a really kind of non religious person, the God concept was hard for me to accept. Someone told me my higher power could be anything I wanted, so I chose music. Music has always been a huge part of my life. So I took my music as my new addiction. I soon became fairly good at mixing music. Writing it, not so much as I had a lot to learn.
Over the course of the next 4 years, my skills as a mix engineer improved slowly. Certainly not fast enough for me. I started getting into YouTube as well, making video tutorials on music production and mixing concepts. I began to get frustrated that "IT" wasn't happening fast enough for me. I watched friends and colleagues grow their channels by leaps and bounds, while mine stayed the same. (petty jealousy) What was I doing wrong? Most of these other creators had been doing this for a long time and have had long time careers in music. I was not that person.
So my music "career" as I called it began to spiral out of control, with no real direction. My anger and stress grew by leaps and bounds daily. I actually had my only client return to me for a mix because he loved the first one he got. I was shot down because I didn't give him what HE wanted. He got what I thought sounded good to me. How arrogant of me. Its not my song. How dare I presume to know what is best for the artist who was on his 8th album with the same band. This was at the beginning of summer 2019.
Then my father got sick. We went to visit my parents in August while he had radiation treatments going on the whole time. That was the hardest thing I have ever done. I remember my son telling me that this is the last time he will see his grandpa. Unfortunately he was right. My Dad passed in early September. I really didn't realize what an impact that would have on me. I really hadn't had any musical inspiration since June anyways, and this event just pushed that further away as well
Fast forward to October of 2019 and I feel like I''m starting over again. Why? I completely overwhelmed myself trying to do to many things at once. Learning music production, Creating YouTube content, Learning marketing and how to run a business. The list goes on. I need to concentrate on the music first and foremost. That is the reason I stay sober and why I get up everyday. OK, OK my family helps a lot to.
Now what advice can I offer to help anyone that has experienced similar setbacks? One thing I began doing back in July 2019 is reading self help books. I know that sounds corny, but some of these self help Guru's actually know a thing or two. The book Mindset by Dr. Carol S. Dweck is one I can highly recommend if you are looking to change your way of thinking.
One other recommendation I can make is get yourself to a gym. I started going about a month ago and my stress level has decreased. I am not so quick to snap at the people I love. Plus I lost a little weight to. You will gain that sitting on your butt in a studio control room.
I hope this will help or inspire anyone who experiences the same issues I do. Remember, you are not alone in your struggles. Until next time, take care all and don't let life beat you up.