Hello and welcome to my newsletter….. I will be periodically sending these out and will include some things I’ve been thinking about. Thanks for reading :)

I have been house and cat sitting for a friend in her beautiful house this past week - it’s been relaxing, a little lonely, but I’ve found some things out. This fun-looking positive psychology sociologist guy Corey Keyes talks about the key to happiness is not found in feeling good, but in functioning well…

There is something vitally important about having things to care for. House/catsitting is one example: I have to get up and give the cat insulin for his diabetes. And feed him. I have to water the garden, take the compost out. It’s so easy to neglect or mistreat ourselves, but it is not as easy to neglect an adorable animal. Or a child. Or thirsty plants. Keyes says you have to find ways to “matter”.

I find my troubles stem from my self-involvement which looks a lot like self-doubt and self-sabotage. I often shirk from commitments or even spontaneous fun citing personal tasks I need to “work on” which actually means “worry about”. In contrast, I think of winning days when I am able to send a few gnawing emails and then meet up with friends or family and completely forget that I ever sent them. I think of the The Office episode where they organize office Olympics and give out medals made of yogurt tops. After it gets shut down, Jim admits that he actually got more work done that day than he normally would.

I think about the time it takes me to get through a to-do list of tasks I’m supposed to do for my “music career” or other artistic endeavors. Most tasks take about 2-5 minutes to complete. Send my bio and photo to a venue, inquire about art or design for a project, schedule a music release, post on instagram. Quick tasks that I assign so much meaning to - what do each of these things say about me and how well I’m doing?

I believe there is some middle ground here. I believe functioning well does not make you a productivity machine, devoid of feeling for things that concern your art and the things you care about. Functioning well can hold both the task and the churning in your stomach. “Hello again,” I say to both stomach pit and manic over-achiever. “Let’s do this together.”

Finally writing this first newsletter is the perfect exercise… you can imagine me delaying pressing ‘send’ after I’ve crafted what I think it a nice letter that people might enjoy. Here I go!

Playing some shows this summer…. In Chicago:

7/30 at Sleeping Village with Mia Joy and 22degree Halo

8/30 at Sleeping Village with Mandy, Lisa, Fruitleather for MegMemes/Malcolm Fest

(yes I am playing 2 shows at sleeping village on the 30th of each month)

Some music I have been enjoying/excited about is my friend Eva’s project Nighttime who is putting out a beautiful album next month… consider listening and buying

Questions? Thoughts? Responses? I’d love to hear from you:

[email protected]