Creating and Downsizing

With a new year comes new goals and there are two different forces calling to me to pursue them - the urge to create and the urge to downsize.

Creating

The urge to create was a bit dormant after I released my fourth and final album of 2017 in November and then subsequently moved to a new place in December.

However, now that I’m somewhat settled and have recently discovered Steemit, the creative urge has returned. The urge to write has come back (obviously), to take new pictures, to try new ways of being creative (making podcasts and videos has been on my mind for a while), and of course, to make more music. I’ve made ambient music pretty consistently for the past few years, but I’m ready to incorporate drums back into some of my pieces again.

That said, I’m not really quite sure where to go with the drums. The style I’m working with now sounds like it did at the end of 2014 when I stopped working with drums - something akin to early DJ Shadow meets Zombi meets video game music.

Actually in writing this, I recall that I did make one track with drums last year titled Rhythmic Abstraction, which is also similar to the drum style I’m working with (though on the jazzier end of things).

It still sounds appealing to me, but I’m in a creative vacuum without the input of others. If anyone knows of any cool drummers or drum-based music projects I should check out, has any drum sequencing tips, or has any particular drum style preference, let me know in the comments below! I’d appreciate it!

Downsizing

The urge to downsize started ramping up in 2017 and I was able to trim quite a few of my things, but not nearly enough of them (as I’ve noticed while moving). In moving to my own place, the gravity of the amount of things I have is far more apparent.

I was a pretty heavy collector until I started reading Steve Pavlina’s blog, which helped me figure out that money spent on possessions is better spent through investing in myself - whether that be by creating passive income streams, buying tools to help explore creativity, or spending it on enriching experiences.

I also have incentive to make a heavy push to downsize over the next two weeks, as there’s going to be a safety inspection of my apartment at the end of the month, and I’d prefer to not have this place looking cluttered after just moving in here a month and a half ago.

Which to Pursue?

I know I have the time and ability to pursue both, but it’s a matter of figuring out how much time to dedicate to each. The urge to create is almost always stronger than the urge to downsize, but the need to downsize outweighs the need to create.

I have no trouble making time to pursue these things (I get up early and go for it), but divvying that time up is where I hit pitfalls. I tend to go afoul of any schedules I make and usually end up doing what inspires me, which is why downsizing usually gets put on the back burner.

If I spend one-third of my morning time creating (my brain is freshest first thing) and two-thirds of it downsizing over the next two weeks, I should be able to make some real progress. Wish me luck and any time management tips are welcome in the comments below!