Making the Time

I enjoyed reading Cari Cole's "The Top 10 Bullshit Excuses" about the music industry and music careers. http://www.caricole.com/top-ten-bullshit-excuses/#.UZHDsaLvv9U

It occurred to me that I haven't posted on my own blog in over 8 months. I could have had a premie by now.  What are our priorities? I often hear people say "I'm too busy". How busy are we though? Too busy to spend 10 minutes practicing? Too busy to take 5 minutes to call an old friend?

By realizing we are kidding ourselves when we say we are "too busy", we might tap into the truth...that our priorities we act on don't match up with the priorities we think about. Or, conversely that whatever it is we are trying to promise to someone, or make excuses for, simply isn't important to us. Perhaps "too busy" would be better to say "too wrapped up in my ego" or "I have my head up my you-know-what".

We need to suspend disbelief to be artists, we need to believe in something greater, but that journey has to start with reality. Let's start by being real with ourselves. I am not too busy for life, I have plenty of time for this.

There is "reality" aka the real world of course. We have bills, we have health, we have families. We have priorities that don't involve music. We also have fear. Fear of failure, fear of not being accepted. This is what really holds us back. We stay in our comfort zones. We do things people praise us for. We don't go out on a limb. We walk the safe path.

Here's to not only taking the road less traveled by, but doing it to the beat of your own drummer. Take the 10 minutes to practice today. Take the 5 minutes to call an old friend. You'll be glad you did. Not only will you be a better musician, but a better human being.