“Well, you’re being very calm about it,” Michele my violin/viola player said, as we stood on stage at our sound check in Calgary, staring down at the empty spot in my guitar case, where my guitar should have been. I was speechless, thinking well, this is a first. I’ve flown my guitar case to Canada, but not my guitar. It was still sitting on the stand, in my music room in Nashville. It was such a huge oversight on my part that it was almost funny.
I’d been in Norway for 4 days before coming to Calgary, in 6 time zones in less than a month, 16 cities in the US and Canada prior to Norway, my knee was killing me from too much driving, and my brain was in a fog.
It took a while for my mistake to become real.
When I was able to speak, I said "Well, ok. Let's figure out what to do." I called the local music store. We headed there quickly before they closed and rented a guitar for my Canadian tour dates.
And I finally got it. It’s time for me to take a deep breath and relax.
I love my work, and am looking forward to my remaining 2015 tour dates, but later this year I am going to sit back and enjoy some of the fruits of my labor. I plan on doing more yoga, cooking dinners, and savoring some slow days and calm nights, reconnecting with my community, and taking December off. I am working on a book, which I will focus on in early 2016.
Work-life balance is a challenge for most of us, especially when we love our jobs. My choices as to what to do with my time are many, and they are all good options. When almost all of my focus is on my work, even though my job is my passion and I love it, it creates shortages in other areas. My community matters to me, my friends matter to me, my home matters to me, my music matters to me, touring matters to me, teaching matters to me, and working with the veterans matters to me. What a life!
I am certain I am not the only person juggling these questions and hard choices. Forgetting my guitar presented me with an opportunity - to fine tune, to adjust, and to really think about work-life balance. This is a discussion that will most certainly continue, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. How do you keep your life in balance?
