January 2010 Archives

At the end of 2007, I made a New Year's resolution of sorts. I decided that I would start getting up earlier to pursue my passions. On January 1st I got up at 6 AM, and continued to do so for a couple of months. Unfortunately, I found myself tired all the time, and wasn't getting enough rest.

At the time, I was teaching guitar 3 days a week. In my spare time, I would write new music, read self-development material, and wrote articles for my website. I made a point of reading Steve Pavlina material, as I had discovered his work in October 2007 and rather liked it.

I think it was Pavlina that inspired me to get up earlier in the first place. In hindsight, I had mistaken his calling as my own. I had thought it was my purpose to pursue writing and self-development as passionately as Pavlina had. Despite having spent the last 7 to 8 years pursuing a career in music, I got a little sidetracked. In retrospect I can see that I wanted what Pavlina had: a passion and purpose. However, I had mistaken his calling for mine.

I think what I related to most with Pavlina was the idea that we could make conscious decisions. Our life wasn't merely the meeting place for a random series of events, but rather a consequence of choices that we had made. It helped me to realize that I did had some control over my own life. For many years I did not believe that there was anything I could do to change or improve my life and here was someone telling me that I could.

In any case, it got me motivated. I wrote new articles for my website every weekday. However, I was beginning to find that my schedule was a little unrealistic. I was trying to juggle several projects at the same time, and I wasn't making progress where I thought it mattered. I started having migraines with increased frequency. Although I had experienced migraines in previous years, at various junctures, it was the first time I really started to fear them. They hurt so much, and there was usually very little I could do about them.

I was starting to get stressed. I was trying to do too much.

2008 was a particularly memorable year for me. I made a great number of changes in my life, and had my fair share of challenges and trials as well. It was such an eventful time in my life that I decided to create artistic representations of the events that took place over the course of the year. Artistically, these pieces did not turn out to be my best work, but they still hold a great deal of meaning for me.

God has been putting it on my heart to share my story. At first I wasn't sure what form this should take, but since I've finally completed my 2008 artwork, I thought I would share the art as well as the story with you.

In subsequent posts, I will be talking candidly about this very memorable year. My sincerest hope is that you will learn more about yourself through these stories.