It’s the Bank Holiday! It’s sunny! These two events almost never occur at the same time, and this post is here to remind you to enjoy it.
One of the joys of freelance life is that you get to make your own schedule. One of the pains of freelance life is having to make your own schedule.
I’m now 29 years old, seven (seven?!) years out of college and I’m only just learning what my actual ideal daily schedule is and how to properly GYST (that’s Get Your Sh*t Together). Giving up alcohol, getting more sleep and exercising are a huge part of it, as are motivation and self-discipline.
Once we get into these habits, it can be hard to switch off into relaxation mode. For me at least, my harp lives in my living room and my computer is my office, so emails are just always there, waiting for an answer, and the harp is always there, looking at me accusingly as if telling me I should be practising. It’s easy to slip into the mindset of productivity being the most important thing (and a way of putting value on ourselves, yikes), and time off is seen as sacrilege. Why rest when there’s money to be made?
This type of thinking leads to burnout pretty quickly, and gradually we become less and less productive, and more and more self-critical. Not good. Today I’m making the case for working to live, not living to work.
Bank holiday weekends mean pretty much nothing to most gigging musicians, I had a concert yesterday – The Dream of Gerontius with Oldham Choral Society – honestly one of my favourite pieces ever. Students still came for lessons, I still answered emails.
But here we are on Bank Holiday Monday, no gigs, no students, and I’m going to give myself the day off emails and practice. Switching off allows us to return refreshed and keen to GYST, whereas working through every weekend leaves us exhausted and uninspired (or is that just me?).
You could argue that I’m here, writing for my website, isn’t that work? But I’m literally writing this in the garden, in the sunshine, plus, I love writing so this feels good. I want to fill the day with things that feel good. I officially give you permission to do the same. Emails will still be there tomorrow.
Have a great Bank Holiday Monday everyone, and, if you need me, I’m out of office til tomorrow. Go and enjoy the sunshine.
A x
