For those of you who have read my blogs in the past you may have noticed that it’s been awhile since I sat down to write something for the public. In the past week, no less than five people have asked me how I was coming along on my stage project, Borderland. Well…life happened and it’s been a slower process than I would have cared for it to be – just as many of the larger projects I have tackled in my life. A few medical issues here, a house sale and purchase there, two moves; you get the idea. I’m sure I speak for many of us who feel that interruptions, even the ones we create, are downers. Yet having moved passed them I’ve decided that what the past year or so has been is not a series of tragedies or major hurdles, just inconveniences which I have chosen to write off as a “Life Hiccup.” First-world problems, as one of my friends pointed out to me. That’s not to say those inconveniences didn’t really suck. For a while I began to wonder whether or not some evil karma was catching up to me decades later, perhaps payback for the mocking of one of the nuns who taught me way back in elementary school.

In all seriousness I don’t really believe the karma I’ve just described exists. To be blunt, shit happens to everyone. For anyone who doesn’t know me really well, this isn’t my first Life Hiccup and it definitely hasn’t been the most challenging. Despite the frustration and grumpiness I have felt when going through these annoying interludes, each time I’ve popped through the other side understanding more about my creative purpose, philosophy and direction. And with that, I’m allowing Borderland to evolve along with me.

From what I have gleaned from life, people tend to spend their early adult and middle years in a constant state of production. School becomes work, work becomes upward mobility, somewhere in there many get married, have children, they keep working harder to support more than just themselves, and it keeps going until people realize one day that they can’t do what they did when they were twenty years old and their parts are starting to wear out. This has all become blatantly obvious to me over this last Life Hiccup. Also, at moments when I have felt my celestial guardian angels have taken a sabbatical, my earthly angels have stepped in. All of these occurrences have been my cue to be more mindful, grateful, and to focus more on quality than quantity in my work and personal life.

As I continue to write, rewrite, discard, and discern elements of Borderland, thank you all for your support. I am privileged that you earthly angels don’t impose the ungodly standards of constant, prolific creativity I often imposed on myself.

Until next time…

Tags: music composition, philosophy, writing