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A New Year, A New You!

January 17, 2017

A new year, a new you!
a journey towards harp happiness:

If you can’t tell I have a thing for categorizations and continued threads.  Maybe this is why I loved the Harry Potter books so much… I can never get enough of a good thing!  This blog series will be focused on my inner and outer journey towards harp happiness in 2017.

Since leaving school, I have found that my overall happiness is much more tied to my instrument than it had been in the past.  In school there is so much to worry about.  Classes to take, papers to write, recitals to give… there is always something new on your stand to challenge, excite, and motivate you.  That motivation and excitement made a significant shift once I had left the collegiate environment.

I went from a constantly changing, vibrant, ever adapting environment to one of stability and far less external motivation.  It’s hard to get up and feel excited about practicing when you know your orchestra rehearsal in the evening is comprised of the exact same music you played on the same concert last year, or that the bride for tomorrows wedding has requested the old wedding war horses (labeled “traditional”).

That isn’t to say that life as a freelance musician is stagnant.  In fact, it is ever changing.  But, where I found joy and excitement in the past, I now experience dread, anxiety, and fear.  That worry that the next paycheck won’t come, that those bills won’t be paid, and that I am not doing enough to push myself forward invade my psyche constantly.  Self doubt is a powerful thing.

Harp had become a means to an end in my life.
So, I’m changing that.

In this series of blogs, I will be exploring the many ways in which I am re-inserting joy into my harp life. Suggestions are welcome for topics to be explored!

Coming up:
A New Year, A New You – Harp Happiness Manifesto

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