Just keep singing
Just keep singing
Hello there, reader. How has your day been? How about your week? Your year so far?
Yeah… me too. Some ups, some downs. It’s an overwhelming time. Let me take a guess at what you’re thinking:
You have a lot on your plate these days, navigating a constantly changing environment, and you feel simultaneously that nothing is happening. Perhaps you don’t know what to make of the contrast between the swirling vortex of events in the world at large and the relative slowness of your own little corner of life, the small scale of your personal crises. It can be hard to focus on the tasks at hand every day when the looming issues of life are so vast, so far beyond the power of one person doing one hour’s work.
Well, that’s how I’m feeling, anyway. Maybe it’s not the same for you, but I know I’m not the only one; I’ve heard so many friends and strangers express similar sentiments in the past few months.
People feel weird doing daily activities that seem so unimportant compared to national and international events.
In the midst of a turbulent world, we feel a bit guilty choosing to use our time and energy to pursue our personal goals. We feel a bit guilty trying to be happy, or even just trying to be normal. We try to carry on with our usual activities, but we can’t help but feel that whatever we do, or don’t do, is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
As a music teacher, I should know as well as anyone that every big achievement is built from a million tiny ones. I remind my students all the time that a little effort each day is enough to make a difference. Music students often feel overwhelmed when they focus on their big goals, so I constantly guide my students to chip away, bit by bit, to focus on learning the next little thing, and to believe that each tiny task they accomplish is significant, that these tiny tasks will, eventually, build up to something much bigger.
However often I advocate for this mindset, I somehow manage to forget to apply it in my own life. We all do, I suspect. Those big problems glower over us, crowding in on our field of view, and we feel at a loss. Where do we even begin? What can we possibly do that will make any difference, or that will matter at all? My resources are so small, my reach is so limited. What can I accomplish? What’s the point of even doing anything at all?
You may have noticed, if you’re on the mailing list, that it’s been a few months since my last post on this blog. That’s because I caved in to that feeling of pointlessness for a while. I took an intentional break from writing while I was swept up in holiday busy mode, and I had planned to start up my weekly articles again in January. But January rolled around, and I thought, why bother? What difference does it really make whether I write or not?
I’ve spent the past few weeks really trying to answer that question. Does it make my life materially better to write or not to write? I can’t say for sure either way. Does it make anyone else’s life better? Does it even affect anyone else at all? Maybe it doesn’t, or maybe what I create will have a greater effect than I’ll ever know.
What I’ve come to be sure of is that it does matter, to me, whether I’ve spent my time in a way that I believe has value. I consider expressing my ideas to be meaningful, so I’m going to keep doing it. I’m just one regular person, and my blog won’t contribute to world peace or cure cancer, but what I do with my life isn’t insignificant.
Ever play the lottery? I always thought it was a waste of money, but now I realize I was looking at it wrong. It had seemed to me like paying for an infinitesimally small chance of winning was no different than saving my money and having a zero chance of winning. In fact, there couldn’t be a bigger difference. Everyone who’s ever won the lottery had to have a ticket. If you don’t have one, though, you’re guaranteed not to win.
The difference between doing nothing and doing something - it’s everything.
What you do right now - with the next hour, with the rest of your day, or with just a few moments - it matters. It means just as much now, in this moment in history, as it ever has. The world may be a scary place, but it is also a beautiful place, and that beauty, like everything, is built up brick by brick. Your contribution is small, but it is not nothing. Keep singing. Keep painting, or carving, or gardening. Keep making good food and smiling at strangers.
Yes, there are big, global problems that need to be addressed. You’re not helpless in that realm, either. Do your own little part in your government and in other organizations. Write a letter, donate a little money to a meaningful cause, attend a meeting, volunteer for an afternoon, cast your vote. You may feel like whether you act or not makes no appreciable difference, but you must know that it does.
And you may feel that, with planetary and societal catastrophe seemingly imminent, it’s not important to make art or music or friends. But it’s not only important, it’s essential. Making life more lovely is perhaps the most meaningful thing you can do for the world. We need the promise of a life that’s worth living to motivate ourselves and others to continue to work for the good of humanity.
Keep putting one foot in front of the other, and you’ll get somewhere. You don’t have to know where you’re going. It’s okay if you feel like you don’t understand the point of making the journey. Each step makes a difference. Each thing you do does make a difference.
Just keep singing.