Navigating the pandemic as a musician: Ten ways to thrive

Let's talk about the pandemic. The elephant in all of the rooms. The thing I sometimes forget about in my day to day at home, but the thing that is very much alive and well. As I write this, we are amidst a huge surge here in the U.S., closing in on a year of this global health crisis and I am nine months into what I’ve been calling the “virtual universe”.

As a musician, I’ve been dealt a specific deck of cards as a result of COVID. The more musicians I connect with during this time, the more I realize the unique and numerous challenges that we face in our current reality. So today I’m sharing with you what navigating the pandemic as a musician has been like, how mindfulness has been my guiding light throughout and how I’ve used this guiding light to support and create a new reality amidst the storm.

The weekend of March 17th, I was supposed to play a concert. I was playing a cycle with an orchestra here in Chicago. I was even playing 2nd horn to a colleague who is also a dear friend. We were carpooling to and from together, making beautiful sounds in the orchestra and really having a lovely time.

And then, as we all know, all hell broke loose.

Gigs were cancelled, the country was in lockdown, shelves were stripped to the bone, everyone scrambled to move their work online and life as we knew it was forever changed.

As a musician and teacher who made my livelihood through in-person connections and performances with audiences, I had no idea what would happen. I was bracing for impact. Would I have enough? Enough clients? Enough money? Enough food? If I got sick, would my marketplace insurance be enough? Enough, enough, enough. It echoed in my mind. It echoed in the minds of all musicians.

One of the things that’s happened in the pandemic is that deep rooted and systemic beliefs of musicians and artists have been amplified in extreme ways. The “enough” conversation, or maybe more accurately, mental spiral, isn’t new in this space. The term “starving artist” is a common phrase for a reason. Scarcity runs deep.

There aren’t enough gigs. There aren’t enough paid gigs. There aren’t enough auditions. There aren’t enough openings in orchestras. There aren’t enough professor jobs available. There aren’t enough students. There aren’t enough people in my network. The list goes on and on of these ideas that had a stronghold before the pandemic. There is a deep seeded belief and culture in the arts that there is simply not enough. On top of that, the culture believes that this just “is the way it is” and there is no way to change it.

So, upon the arrival of the pandemic, this nerve and pain point among artists has been activated on a deeper level and activated repeatedly. Performers cannot “work from home” like a corporate job. I have colleagues who have not been able to get unemployment even though they’re not working, I know musicians that are resigned to the idea that they can’t continue what they do until there is a vaccine, I also know musicians that didn’t believe they could make a good living before the pandemic, so now they believe there’s absolutely no way. If I could describe the general vibe I get from musicians during this time, it’s powerless.

All of these beliefs and realities of musicians and artists aren’t made up - the structures of the arts and how they are valued in society reflects this back and provides evidence of these beliefs. And so the vicious cycle continues.

For me personally, on top of all of this I live in a one bedroom on my own. I’m not able to see people, let alone play music with people. I’ve hugged exactly six people since March. There is an incredible amount of uncertainty and isolation.

At the same time, I am the most fulfilled and joyful I’ve ever been in my life. I went full time in my business and created brand new income. I have created and nourished deep relationships. And yes, I’ve done all of this as a musician in a pandemic.

So how am I doing it? Why don’t I feel powerless? How am I navigating it? And not only navigating it, how did I create a whole new reality for myself during this time?

The answer? You guessed it, mindfulness. However, it may not mean what you think.

To me, mindfulness is not meditating for 5 hours a day and hoping life will be different. Mindfulness is not “it is what it is”. It’s actually the direct opposite. It calls me into deep responsibility.

Mindfulness is a way of living where I am constantly in relationship with the present, with the truth and then wielding the power of my mind to take action and create the reality I want based on what I discover. And while living out this process, I get to love myself every step of the way.

Here are ten ways that mindfulness has supported me and helped me navigate the pandemic as a musician. And not only navigate during this time, to thrive. The cool news is, mindfulness can help you do this too.:

1. My relationship to the present moment.
   • Most of the pain I’ve experienced in my life has been when I’m ruminating on the past or the future. The present moment is all I ever have. Even if the present is painful, mindfulness helps me stay there, move through it and simply be. Its existing in “What is” rather than “What was” or “What if”.
2. My relationship to myself.
   • I constantly find myself saying “Thank god I enjoy my own company”. Thank god indeed and also thank you to myself. In daily meditation and mindfulness practices the past 5 years, I’ve deepened my relationship with myself and I love her. This isn’t something that just happened, like any relationship it was built over time and during the pandemic it has deepened and expanded. My intuition and sense of self is at an all-time high.
3. Accessing the truth and knowing my truth.
   • When I exist in the present moment, I accept it. I don’t need to argue with it, it just is. So when the pandemic happened, it was the truth. I accepted it and was able to pivot rather than wish for how things could or should be. Similarly, in my relationship with myself, I am able to get quiet and hear my inner voice. One thing I was able to hear very loudly was how much I cared about and wanted to be a mindfulness coach.
4. Knowing that everything is a choice.
   • Welcome to the sentence that changed my life! Honestly, I truly despised this at first. I despised it because it didn’t allow me to be a victim anymore. Mindfulness shows me that I have the power to wield my mind to create my reality regardless of any outside circumstances. So even in a pandemic, how I choose to be, think and live is all on me.
5. Separating my identity from my thoughts.
   • We are all human beings and we all have crazy thoughts. I know I’ve had about a billion already today! The gift of mindfulness is: I am not my thoughts. I get to choose what thoughts I give power to. I get to choose what thoughts I let run my life. I get to choose to even laugh at my thoughts when they are ridiculous!
6. Calling me into deep responsibility.
   • Going along with choice, mindfulness holds me accountable for my life. I can’t un-see things once I’ve seen them. I can’t un-know things once I know them. I simply can’t. So based on what I see and know, I am called to act in alignment with these things. Cause and effect. I am responsible for my life, my results and who I am. The pandemic is not responsible for my reality, I am. I stay in my power.
7. Protecting my energy and psyche.
   • Through mindfulness I deeply know myself and what I need. Based on this, I act in ways that support my happiness and success. That means saying no to people or opportunities that drag me down. It’s also a hearty “Hell yes!” to people who light me up, inspire me and I can connect with in a nourishing way. I also invested in support systems to stay on my A-game.
8. Abundance and possibility.
   • Having the power of my beliefs, I choose abundance and possibility. I not only choose it, I then experience it based on that choice. I can be a prosperous artist in a pandemic. There are enough opportunities for everyone. The possibilities are endless. Whatever I choose to believe, I’m right. These beliefs guide my actions. 
9. Joy!
   • I am constantly asked, how do you stay so positive? Well, I just decide to. With mindfulness I get to release a lot of ailments - control, perfectionism, low self-worth, anxiety, if you ask me life without those things is pretty dang joyful. I also create joy on purpose through practices. Attitudes are skills and habits, and I consistently choose joy.
10. Taking leaps.
    • The combination of the first nine supports of mindfulness bring me to take leaps. I leapt and went full time in Mindful Music and launched a mindfulness coaching practice based on everything I have come to know and discover about myself through mindfulness. I maintain this through various tools, practices and simply ways of being.

The truth is, without mindfulness during this time as a musician, I would not be doing well. I would be scared. I would be unhappy. I would be drowning myself in vodka, in avoidance and denial, depressed, basically all of the things I had experienced in my personal story before mindfulness, but drastically heightened by the circumstances.

I look out and I see this. Musicians and artists are struggling. It makes sense why. I also know it doesn’t need to be this way. No one needs to suffer like this. I discovered a better way that works and I want to share it.

This email is just the tip of the iceberg. It is my mission to empower musicians to create the lives they truly want, yes during a pandemic, by way of mindfulness. With my mindfulness coaching clients I dream with them, create plans, practices and habits with them to create their dream, and support them daily as they bring it to fruition.

You are a creator and you can wield your mind to create whatever is in your heart. The gateways to this are presence, choice, tools and habits.

When you master your internal world, the external, no matter how uncertain, can’t touch you. The limiting structures and beliefs, can not touch you.

If any of this resonates with you, connect with me and let me know your biggest takeaway! 

If you’re a musician or artist that’s looking for an authentic community based in mindfulness during this time, join my free Facebook group. It's a sacred container for connection and tools. 

And finally, if you’d like experience how to create all of this and more for yourself through mindfulness, book your free coaching call with me here. I've only got a few spaces remaining for 1:1 clients. 

No one is ever obligated to be who they were even five minutes ago. This is the beauty of the present moment and the replenishment of opportunities available to us in every single one.

If you knew that you could create happiness, abundance and fulfillment as an artist in the pandemic, what would you create?

When you share what you did during the pandemic with your grandchildren, what story would you love to tell them?

Don't let 2020 bleed into 2021.  

It’s more than possible, you’re more than capable, and I’m in your corner supporting you every step of the way! 

In power and possibility,

⭐️ Adrienne  

P.S. Send it. 💗   Think of a musician or artist you love and pass this along! The positive ripple is real.