Personal Balance:

I made some big changes in my life a few years ago. In a way I became my own experiment. For the first time, I took some regular work in order to have some steady income. I also became a parent and I wanted to change my life and creative career.

Previously, I had worked so hard that I didn't take a proper break for 9 years with the only travelling being to writing sessions and camps abroad. It wasn't until I met my partner (a seasoned traveller) that I took a 3 week break… Only to come back and realise it didn't make any difference - my work and connections were still there. Work hours as a creator sometimes never end and we never switch off, and I needed to escape this mindset while also acknowledging that I'm a workaholic and that I have some of my most fulfilling moments when I'm deep in a project.

I have lived off music since I was 20 years old and my day-to-day routine 7 days a week was this:

Wake up, make beats and prep sessions, do sessions, mix and work on songs, create new ideas / beats, do emails, sleep…

I loved it when it was good, and I struggled when it was hard and I rode those waves until I crashed. It sounds like being an addict doesn't it? Sometimes music feels that way; it's how I cope, it's how I define myself, it's everything to me, but being responsible for another life is a powerful thing too. I decided to try something different as I didn’t want to raise my kids feeling unfulfilled, I wanted to be ….. well I didn’t know, but not this.

When it gets down to it this first post is really about having time, giving time, and being present. In other words, how I value and spend my time and how I can be present in moments and give them my full attention. I don’t think about emerging technologies as just an opportunity to rethink financial structures, or music distribution, but about lives. For me, it’s about real people finding new ways to live with their art and passions. We're conditioned to follow hot takes and clickbait. Yet, finally, I feel we are starting to see past the “just do the work”, “I'll sleep when I'm dead” and “all you need is a hit” trash we hear everyday. Instead, we start to think collectively about what we are all in this for. 99% of creators burning out and falling out of love with their art should not be a goal we are working towards, and I feel the pressure to endlessly create and show up is part of the problem. I struggle with it even now and it's a constant learning curve, yet the focus of this series of posts is a positive one: whatever this web3 / on-chain / blockchain music thing is… it's working for me and helping me find balance.

I’m still thinking about how this is actually panning out, but writing this is one example.. I can put ideas out in the world and let them connect and find their way to people. It's not unique to the blockchain, but arguably the community we are part of is unique in the way it consumes information. I can speak like this and tell you that the most important thing here is that balance is in the interest of longevity. Being happy, productive and stable as a creator is a powerful thing, and if we want great art to continue being created for a long time then we should be thinking about how we can support and encourage this in the lives of those who inspire us. So they can grow, so they can be prolific and so they can build a world around their music that gives it the best chance of reaching those that need it.