How easy we forget...

Why is it so easy to forget the difficulties that we left before any discomfort we have currently?  As I know many people struggle with, I've had some difficulties with the uncertainty of my life at this point.  I'm busting my butt to get my name out there as a drummer and arranger/composer in Nashville since I moved there, but I still feel uncomfortable about the uncertainty of working as a self-employed musician.  I'm not sure where to go to get more consistent work.  But when looking back at when I was doing a big-boy job at a office in Manhattan, many of the days I spent there felt like such pointless laps in this hamster wheel where you just keep on working and working and the work never ends.  It was very frustrating and I was ready to walk out of the job multiple times over the last few years.  I was getting super frustrated with having to work so much without having the ability to work for my art of try out what might happen with the talents I have cultivated over the years.  Now that I'm in that position to try to figure out what I can do with that, I feel anxious about the uncertainty of not having a regular day job.  I see it as a difficulty with a "grass is always greener" paradox, where no matter what I do, I'm always struggling with wanting what I don't currently have.  How do you work to move away from that and just learn to be happy with the gifts in your life that you currently are enjoying?

Big Change.

While playing music and living in New York, I also had to have a day job to be able to make enough money to live in one of the most expensive cities there is.  But after living and working in NYC for almost 7 years, I realized that the day job just wasn't something that I could do much longer.  I was good at my job, don't get me wrong, but it was not something that I had much of a desire to do for very long.  Since I am not yet married and have no kids, I didn't really have a reason to absolutely have to stay in New York.  I've been feeling a desire to get out of New York and try to play professionally in Nashville.  There is a thriving arts community, a strong Catholic and God-loving community, and lots of music happening in Nashville.  This is why I decided to try to make something happen there.  So I quit my job, but before I went to Nashville for a few months (just to try it out, not necessarily make a full-on move and commitment), I went to on the road trip I've always wanted to carry out.  For 5 weeks, I traveled from through the US in my hatchback with a drumset, percussion set-up and some of the things I moved to Nashville with me.  I drove through Virginia, Nashville, Dallas, Albuquerque, Phoenix, San Diego, most of California up to Eureka, Portland, Denver, and College Station, Texas before I arrived in Nashville.  From there, let the adventures begin!