November always feels like such a magical month to me. We leave behind the sugar rush and spookiness of Halloween (while still embracing all things pumpkin) and officially make our way into the holiday season.
Everyone seems so much more friendly and happy during this time of the year, which to me, is the best part of the holidays. I love the spirit of Thanksgiving, and this year I want to get a jump start on celebrating right away.
For as long as I can remember, that has been my default setting. But in 2017, a switch was flipped in my brain, and I decided I didn’t want to live in go-mode anymore.
It has taken time to adjust to the idea and practice of living at a slower pace, and I’m still not all the way there yet. It was easier during the summer, when I had a built-in excuse to slow down; now that we are in the throes of fall, it feels like I should be back to life at warp speed like everyone else.
It was my dad, of all people, who asked me this question just the other day.
“But how can you be an introvert? You’ve been performing in front of people your whole life. That doesn’t seem very introverted to me.”
That’s when I had to debunk the common misconception that being an introvert means being shy and uncomfortable around other people. I explained to my dad that while I have no problem getting up on a stage and singing, it’s the interaction with many people before and after that completely drains me and necessitates time alone to recharge afterwards.
Growing up, I loved summer for its perfect blend of laziness and activity. I spent my days sleeping in and hanging out with my friends at the pool, and then, once I was in high school, my evenings were filled with community theater rehearsals and low-key plans with friends.
As an adult, especially the last few years before having kids, summers were a blur. I packed them with full work schedules, gigs, vacations, and obligations to which I felt bad saying no. I barely spent any time in my summer happy place (next to a pool), and let the season slip by because I was so “busy”.
That was my experience even after having kids, as we added all kinds of new activities to the mix. I continued to say yes to work opportunities and performances, even though really, I just longed for weekends completely free of plans.
But this summer is different. I’ve spent the first half of 2017 slowly paring down commitments and work to that which most fulfills me and suits my family life, and now, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I have more white space than plans on my calendar.
A few weeks ago, I was making some updates to the Music Therapy Connections website when an error message popped up. I’ll spare you the technical jargon, but after making a call to my hosting provider, I discovered that my current hosting server is no longer being updated and will prevent my websites from running smoothly and doing everything I need them to do.
The customer support representative recommended that I upgrade to a new server, and explained what the process would look like for doing so. Now, I consider myself to be a pretty tech-savvy person, but a lot of what he was explaining seemed overwhelming and over my head. Even so, it was pretty clear that I needed to take the plunge, and thus began the Great Website Migration of 2017.
Last year, I followed along as several people in my Instagram feed participated in the 100 Day Project. Every day for 100 days, they posted a photo of an action they took related to a creative project on a singular theme.
One of my favorite accounts to follow was Elise Blaha Cripe, who posted 100 days of pep talks. When she mentioned a couple of weeks ago that a new round of #the100dayproject was coming up, I decided to get on board.
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