First and foremost, I love playing guitar and music. But I am a strong believer that it is important to have other interests. Whilst I was studying music at University I was obsessed with practise, I spent any time out of lectures or lessons practising or rehearsing. Everything I was thinking or talking about was guitar.
Unfortunately, I was over practising. I set my standards too high, every time I made a little mistake I would obsess about it days after the fact. It got me to a point where I didn’t even want to play anymore. It wasn’t until my friend (who wasn’t a musician) suggested that I found some hobbies. Being a Musician for a living is odd, as your love and hobby is also your stress and work, in any other job you would have other things to do in your downtime. My Dad worked in insurance, when he was at home he wasn’t filling more claims for fun!
Me and my friends started playing Snooker and playing Football, whilst we are not very good, it’s nice just having something to do for fun and not have to stress about being good at. It has also had a positive impact on my guitar playing as I’m practising more effectively and not stressing about what I’m playing so I can play with more freedom!