WE DID IT!! We accomplished our goal of recording an original song, for each of the 52 weeks in 2020 :-) “THANK YOU” to those who have encouraged, followed, advised, commented, cheered us on, shared our videos or just took time to check it out, THANK YOU!!! <3
There were times when some songs did not seem like they were ever going to come together, we got cranky with one another and EEISH… But somehow we sweetened up and pressed on. There was that bone in my foot I fractured and the boot I had to wear for 9 weeks, while it healed. I won’t even go into details about the accidental, flying leap, I took off the bathroom counter, just after getting my boot off, as I mostly ended up in one piece. But I will say, many things this past year gave me serious concern that we did not have as much control over our challenge as we first imagined. I concerned that maybe we would not be able to complete it. Never did we consider that there would be a pandemic. However, I think the challenge was a good thing for us to focus on and perhaps provided us with something consistently familiar as we found ourselves in what I’ve heard some people refer to as “a new norm”.
Early on in the pandemic, I considered live music as we once knew it, might be gone for a very long time. I mourned it. I recounted conversations I had previously had with musicians. The ones, when they would speak of their glory days, name dropping famous musicians they knew or played along side of before saying something like "I can't believe I have to play this place now" or some other comment showing displeasure with their current day situation. I wondered at the time, why they couldn’t see how fortunate they had been to have done what they did. As I considered this, I took a moment to really touch base with how grateful I feel to have lived moments, where I was able to play live music and get a synergistic thing going with an audience, whether small or large. I hope I always value those moments, while remembering not to take the current moments for granted because one day, maybe they will be part of my own glory days.
For me, completing the 2020 original song a week challenge was a dream come true. All my adult life I have been looking for ways, for Dan and I to own our time, so that we could experience the freedom, to passionately work with our talents, at a comfortable pace that allows us to bring out the best of ourselves, while hopefully impacting our environment and the people in it, in a positive way. While it turns out an original song a week challenge is not quite the answer to such an involved goal, we got 52 original songs recorded and that really feels good! Currently, we are kicking back just a bit and looking to tackle things we let go of, in order to complete our challenge. We are trying to get these other things done and get reorganized, in hopes of making space for our next endeavor.
One last thing. I recommend taking a year to fulfill your own challenge. It doesn’t have to start on January 1st and end on December 31st. Just start. When I have worried about COVID-19, the thought that I was working on our challenge helped me feel like I had more control over my life than I probably did because each day I was working on what seemed to be my own life’s fulfillment, I felt I was living my life to it’s fullest. Let me know if you plan on taking on such a challenge so I can support you.
Much love and best wishes!!
:-)