If you are anything like me, you are interested in a substantial amount of things.
And this causes severe troubles. SEVERE. TROUBLES! But let me explain.
You have your professional life going on, whatever that brings for you.
For a bassoonist it’s usually: concerts, lessons, practicing, reed making, searching for sheet music (hopefully on AnselmaMusic.com!), caring about students and fellow musicians.
You have parallel to professional stuff going on like improving your knowledge and capabilities, learning about better posture and poise, better mental skills, performing better on stage, being a better teacher and such.
Finally your private life. Hobbies, family, doing sports, finding out how to be a better person, parent or partner. Also reflecting about your life, what you have learned, seeing your progress, recognizing what to be proud of and what to dismiss in the future. Just growing as a human being.
Now, having all of this cooking together in one pot can cause a feeling of overwhelm. Many, many plates are rolling, you juggle them all!
The daily schedule is completely full, nothing else can be added. Just stuff that we regularly do can feel super overwhelming. Every morning.
Here is the trap we fall into:
We think, oh, it WILL be calm! Just this one – insert the blank – (concert, month, project, weekend,…) and THEN things will calm down to normal, to relaxed, to nice and sweet.
I’ve got news for you. Nice and sweet normal won’t come.
Because it does not exist.
Normal is that boiling one pot soup that feels overwhelming.
Be honest and notice it.
Please do me a favor. Delete all the “Just this one … (blank) and things WILL calm down.”
That’s fantasy, that’s wishful thinking.
New storms are always coming, just look outside the window. There is no normal nice and sweet weather. It always changes, it’s always moving, it’s never stable and the calm never lasts.
Life happens moment to moment.
This is scary. I know. We want it to be different.
But if we want to have a good life, there is just one option:
Enjoy the soup, enjoy the change, embrace the chaos.
Calm is Utopia. Let that go.
Still: There is always time in all of this, now, to relax, breath and to see it’s all good. With no “Just this one …” in mind.
With so much love,
have a great return to the normal… 😇
Anselma
p.s. Do you know our unchallenged bestsellers? Our tutors for beginners, now in new edition. These books are ordered from and cherished in different countries all over Europe, Australia and Northamerica since 2009 – because they work: Anselma’s New Bassoon Method and Anselma’s New Fagottino Method