There Is Nothing Wrong With You - Lessons From The Pandemic
Not to discount the ongoing crisis in some countries, but much of the developed world is slowly beginning to return from its cursed year-and-a-half-long involuntary sabbatical. When it began, who among us imagined that the surreal dissolution of normal life would go on this long?! When I reflect on those early days, I feel a bit cringey. I remember the earnest stream-for-tips shows I played at my studio, the peppy and poignant tracks I made to cheer up my friends, and the heartfelt “Go Team!” posts on my social channels with the same sort of bashful embarrassment that I feel when I remember the clothes I thought were cool in high school. Like, ok, I didn’t know any better, but still … did I have to be quite that out of touch?
The pandemic’s impact on me was complicated, and I know you’d say the same. I was met with a surprising influx of new opportunity, sure, but there was also a depressing collapse in gigs, tours, and travel. On one hand, watching the live music and studio industries vaporize within weeks was legitimately terrifying, but then there was the chance to hunker down with my friends and family and deepen those relationships for the better. When it comes to my music career, I wish I could say these desperate times catalyzed some sudden explosion of action in me; that I got busy and developed a whole new range of skills, flexed the network hard, and otherwise made lemonade from viral lemons, but alas, I spent the first few months incessantly watching The Office and trying to remember the point of practicing.
Eventually, I began to adapt—it’s human nature, after all. I finally dialed-in my remote-teaching rig. I conquered my procrastination and finished a few long-term mixing projects. I buried my mind in the soothing elegance of Sonny Rollins transcriptions, and I got way into working on old motorcycles. Most relevantly, I pursued the opportunity at Scott’s Bass Lessons that, among other exciting benefits, enables me to write here.
As far as my friends go, if there’s one thing that bored out-of-work musicians can do, it’s use their fancy mics and audio chops to make podcasts. Which is to say, I appeared on a bunch of friends’ podcasts. The conversations were broad and remarkably therapeutic, but if I had to boil my mission down to one thing, it was to use the podcasts to convey this sentiment: It’s ok if you didn’t “nail” the pandemic. You may have seen friends and colleagues flourish despite the looming catastrophe and thought, What’s wrong with me? I can barely get out of bed, much less write my first solo record, take up beekeeping, and conquer Instagram.
There is nothing wrong with you. You survived, you’ll live to see better days, and you care enough about music to be on SBL, reading this. In short, you’re a success! Congratulations! As with most of life’s biggest challenges, the lessons of this time will unfold for years to come. But still, a few are available now, chief among them that nothing good comes from comparing your journey through a crisis with anyone else’s. Nobody is as good at being you as you are. You did the best you could, and that’s all you can do. As the world finds its footing again, I propose you finally embrace that fact. Consider it one of the pandemic’s most lasting gifts, its silver lining. Therein lies real peace!
- Jonathan Herrera
