It’s a lot.
Being a human.
Being a creative.
Being a professional.
It is a lot.
Many times you will feel like you can’t even take the time to eat or take a shower. The music industry is a constant revolving door. It is like a game of whack-a-mole. You get one thing done and four more fires pop up out of no where. You write one song and seven more ideas pop into your head and you are stuck at the piano all day perfecting and crafting these ideas to music.
You give so much of yourself and so much of your life for what feels so temporary. You are always searching for the next thing. It can be so exhausting.
There is no perfect way to go about taking care of yourself when it comes to feeling centered and fresh while staying afloat in this industry. It is unique to everyone. It is certainly unique at any hour of any day in this industry.
You have to give yourself time to heal your inner child. This was previously mentioned in another blog, but I want to focus on that aspect of taking care of yourself more thoroughly in this blog.
Healing your inner child is the first step to many things. It is the first step to creating more structure in your life, learning your values, learning your beliefs, learning your favorite foods, learning your comforts, learning your insecurities and your securities, learning your goals, learning your hobbies, learning your friends, learning your family, learning what makes you sad, learning what makes you happy, and learning what makes you laugh.
By getting to know your inner child and what it needs, you will get to know your present-day self so much better. Your present-day self has all the faults and gifts that your inner child does, just with a little more hindsight. It is your responsibility to use that hindsight to nurture your inner child.
Waking up every day and looking at yourself in the mirror may feel not so exciting for everyone. Change this up by imagining five-year old you in the mirror in place of your present-day self. Imagine the kid that jumps up every morning and hurries to brush their teeth and get dressed so they can eat their favorite cereal and go see their friends at school. Imagine the little kid that laughs so hard that it makes everyone else around them laugh and wish that this moment never went away. Imagine the little kid that so gently grabs their parents’ hands in public because they are walking so fast and can’t catch up.
Imagine that little kid.
That little kid is who you are in charge of making happy every day.
It is such a gift. It is certainly a responsibility.
Whatever you do, think about him or her. If you are a more visual person, print a picture out of yourself as a child. Post it up on your mirror. Have it by your bedside. Put it as the wallpaper on your phone. Make sure you acknowledge that little kid every day.
Many of my peers, myself included, are graduating in just a couple weeks. I have imagined myself as a little girl watching myself now. It is so surreal to see how far I have come. It is so surreal to think about the smile on the little girl’s face if she was watching me today. She would be in absolute awe. She would not even be able to dream of the people I have met, the places I have been, and the things I have done.
I am who she looks up to. I am who she described when she forced her parents to buy the new clothes and the new toys so she could be just like me. I am who she started to talk like because that is how smart, fun grown-ups talk. I am who she started to dress up like because that is how you dress when you go to New York City. I am the girl she looks up to.
To me, my inner child is who I look to for comfort. She is who I look to when I need to remember just how fragile I am. She is who I look to when I need to know I have naivety in me still and that is okay. She is who I look to when I think about how innocence is bliss and the little things can make you so happy. She is who I look to when I feel like I cannot control anything happening in my career or in my life. She lets me know I am able to smile. She lets me know I can shine through those moments because I have shined before. She lets me know there is joy living in me and no matter what comes our way, we will always find that deep belly laugh that will surely make everyone else laugh too. She lets me know just how poetic words can be and that, in order to be heard, I have to be willing to speak. She reminds me of everything I feel like I can lose so easily these days in the hustle of just trying to make myself a spot in this industry.
She is the reason I want to keep fighting for my spot in this industry. She is the reason why I wake up every day, and even if I am tired beyond belief, I will make sure I go to that event tonight because the little girl watching me would have loved to have a seat at that show on a random Wednesday night.
I will forever think about her when moving forward in this industry. You should too. Think about yourself as a kid. Think about your inner child. He or she should mean everything to you. It is who got you to where you are. It is who will be cheering you on no matter how far you go.
So take care of him. Take care of her.
Take care of yourself.
