So often these blogs are like, oh, life is great, look how well I’m doing, look at all the cool stuff I’m able to accomplish on so little sleep.

Real Talk: I love being busy, I love performing, my students make me generally happy and I think I’m making a positive impact on the world. I feel like I matter and I feel like what I’m doing is important, and I feel mostly respected in what I do.

BUT. Especially through the month of January, and at other times, sometimes I wake up, and I feel completely overwhelmed. Sometimes I wake up and I cry, just because I’m so completely overwhelmed at everything I need to do, and that I can’t do it, and that I’m afraid I’m going to have no friends ever and never get to do anything fun that isn’t work, or being so exhausted at the end of the day that you just want to drink wine and watch Netflix.

Sometimes when people cancel I’m so relieved, but that doesn’t mean I have free time. I spend my life adding things to my to do list and checking them off. When I have a few minutes free I check my to do list to make sure I’m not forgetting anything important. Before I go to bed I often think about the day ahead and add things to the list. I constantly have to check my upcoming week to make sure I haven’t double booked anything, to make sure I’m getting the right music ready at the right time, that any rooms I need to arrange are reserved, that any students I need to reschedule are rescheduled (this is a huge stress of mine, because I am constantly rescheduling students in order to perform and rehearse)…it’s an anxiety filled lifestyle.

On top of that, I’m trying to maintain some semblance of healthy meals, a decently clean house to teach out of and live in, and then have clean clothes, and all that madness. I regularly work 10 to 14 hour days—that includes Saturdays and Sundays. I will have random mornings off, or an occasional entire day off from working, but even then my head space is filled with all that I need to catch up on, and then the constant guilt of “gosh, I should work out” and “I really absolutely need to spend some quality time with my instrument” and it all boils down too: since Christmas vacation I don’t think I’ve had a moment of actual relaxation.

Part of that could be on me. Perhaps all of it. Sometimes I take my stress out on Louie. (Too often, probably). And he has his own work and home related stress, and we probably feed on each other. And honestly, we could work less hard, but I can’t pinpoint exactly what I’d want to stop doing, and if I stopped doing any one thing, no matter what musician career advice people try to tell us, I firmly believe I need to keep saying yes to as many things as possible because each yes leads to another yes possibility, and I’m getting to do some really amazingly fun things here. And I don’t know what the path has been to get here, I just know that I’m on it, I love being on it, and I want to stay on it.

So there you have it. My confession as it were, though I haven’t exactly been hiding it. Yes, sometimes I’m completely overwhelmed to the point of needing to cry it out. And then I take some deep breaths, get a large cup of coffee, check my to do list, and dive in.

The thing about teaching at two different colleges: there’s an end in sight. That’s why January was harder than now—now I’m more than halfway through. I see the end. And while that’s probably not a great way to look at life, I’m trying to save for retirement. I will need a new car, and I would like to buy a viola soon. I also crave respectability, for people to think I’m a good violinist, to think that all the practice I’ve put in has paid off and that I’m making a positive impact on the world (gosh, somebody needs to!) So that means I work as much as I can, for the money, for the fun (being ONSTAGE during the show Chicago last weekend at the Fox theater was SO MUCH FUN), for the glory, and for the career satisfaction. And summer will be easier, and the cycle will continue. At least for awhile longer, and while I can.

I am working on methods of coping, other than writing things down (which is definitely a good thing). Anybody have ideas to share, ways to calm your mind in the midst of periods of great stress and busy times?

Oh, and poor Mackenzie is in a cone for a bit. She had a growth on her face that needed to be removed, and has some stitches now. It won’t be for too long, but to her it feels like forever

Last thought for now: I am fiercely protective of my sleep and try to average 8 hours. That’s probably the best thing that I do for myself every day. Sometimes I’ll have a few days where I get closer to 6 or 7 hours but I try to limit those as much as possible.