Taking Care and Helping Others

You’d be forgiven for thinking that we’re living in scary times right now. The media, both official and social, have a way of making it almost impossible to not obsess over it all. You literally cannot turn on the radio or watch network TV and not be watching something about COVID-19.

That kind of saturation makes it difficult to allow yourself a psychological breather. You get into a mindset where everything seems negative, and it’s hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

At times like these, it can make you feel that writing songs is a silly thing to do. But I would argue just the opposite: being creative and expressing yourself in an artistic way is a tremendously important thing to do.

It’s important in two ways. First, it helps keep you balanced. You are a songwriter likely because you have always had a need to express feelings in a musical way. When we don’t express ourselves, negativity has a way of bottling up inside and making us feel worse than we’d normally feel.

And second, it helps others. Many people do not have your ability to write songs to help sort out emotions, but that’s where you come in. Your songs can be a blessing to others. People that aren’t overtly musical still need music in their lives.

So if you find yourself glued to the television, or constantly checking Twitter or Facebook for the latest, take this advice: monitor what it’s doing to your psyche, and allow yourself to take hours-long breaks away from it all.

And during those breaks, keep writing your songs! It’s always been what has kept you sane in the past, and it will do the same for you now.

We’ll get through this crisis, as humanity has always done in the past. While the world sorts it all out and finds solutions, please remember: take care of yourself, and then take care of others.

And one of the best ways to do that is to continue your work as a songwriter and performer. At times like these, it’s especially important.

Written by Gary Ewer. Follow Gary on Twitter.

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