Coping Mechanisms

Wrapping up an awesome (and exhausting!) year

(New Zealand in the summertime)

I’m a recovering control freak with a natural predisposition for anxiety, so it’s safe to say that stress and I have been acquaintances for a long time.

I’ve attempted to use lots of different coping mechanisms over the years: biting my nails, blocking it out with bourbon, formidable workouts to exhaust myself too much to notice, writing lists to try to get it onto a piece of paper, and quitting drinking completely - which was probably the healthiest option I tried.

The thing I never tried until recently? Simply stepping off the hamster wheel when it got the speed wobbles.

I read a quote a while back that said something along the lines of, “take a break when you need one or your body will take one for you - at a far less convenient time”.

It’s a statement that really struck me, and something I’ve been trying really hard to listen to lately.

This year was really full on - in the best possible way.

I finally got to tour overseas again, I started writing a book, I coached some truly wonderful musicians, I helped my partner run his retail business and learned how to be a merchandiser on a large scale, I spent hours conspiring with my bestie on a new business venture for 2023 that is going to be KILLER, I recorded another album with my band, and I became an American citizen!

2022 was awesome in so many ways, but it was also just plain exhausting.

Heading into December, there’s still a lot I would like to get done, but I finally have to admit that if I don’t take a break now when my body is shouting at me that it needs one - it will simply take one for me.

So tomorrow I’m signing off for a month. I’m flying home to New Zealand with Jake and we are going to hang out with my family, drink Speights Old Dark, eat fish ‘n’ chips, read books, and sink our toes in the sand.

My next Substack will be on January 1st, 2023, and if you’re a monthly subscriber and because of this you would like December refunded, reply to this email and I will happily do so.

For December, I leave you with this to ponder:

As Cassie always says, “everything is made up”, and that means there’s no right or wrong way to have a music career, there’s just what makes you happy.

There used to be a dozen record label gatekeepers who held the keys to the castle and one way to have a music career (play live, get signed, sell CDs, tour), but the castles are now crumbling, and in their place are left the crowds of people all over the world who are hungry for art - direct from you, the artists.

Whether you want to tour the world, be a professional songwriter, have a career as a session player, teach music, or be the world’s most successful wedding singer, you have everything at your fingertips to make it happen.

YOU get to decide what 2023 looks like for you.

And in January I’ll be back and ready to help show you how.

Happy Holidays and I’ll see you next year xx