Very often in our lives, we tend to feel like we’re not moving forward, or that we’re not getting anything accomplished. But is that really true?
Why You’re Frustrated About Getting Things Done
This past Saturday Emily and I worked a small production for a television commercial here in Hendersonville. She was officially hired as a Production Assistant but by the end of the shoot was credited with Production Coordinator for all the work she did. I was hired as a driver – I drove a large, intimidating Chevy Suburban, picked up Hattie B‘s on 19th and brought it to the principle producers and talent (the doctors for whom the commercial was being filmed); I took the doctors from their hotel downtown and brought them to the set; when the shoot was over I brought them back to the hotel and then to the Predators hockey game.
It was an interesting gig, to say the least. I’ve done a lot of things involving production – from Production Coordinator or 1st Assistant Director down to Production Assistant, Electric Department and Video Editing – but I’d never been the driver before. It was fun, and maybe a little stressful (mainly because I don’t feel comfortable driving big vehicles). But, thankfully, I’ve been driving strangers around via Uber for some time now, and it’s not like I’ve never driven larger production vans before. And the doctors themselves were really nice guys, and quite fun to listen to.
The Director who hired me had wanted me on set in case he had any questions or needed any advice or recommendations on some parts of the process. And while that actually felt quite wonderful to be viewed as someone who knows what he’s doing and is worth consulting with, I found that not only was I likely to just be in the way on such a small set (there really wasn’t a lot of room), I also found it wouldn’t appear appropriate for the driver to be seen offering advice to the Director, prompted or not. I just felt that my place was as “the driver”, and if someone needed me in a capacity other than that, they would let me know (or, if they needed advice, we could chat behind closed doors). So, I stayed nearby but otherwise got myself out of the way of the actual production. That turned out to work well and the production itself seems to have gone off without any problems. I’m very grateful for the gig.
On Sunday, Emily and I spent most of the day with Addison, taking her to the mall in Cool Springs and playing on the little playground there. I had little pockets of time here and there to work on mixing for the 15th Anniversary reissue of Neon Apocalypse that’s coming out later this year, which I worked on in pieces into Monday. I’ve been listening to mixes of six of the ten songs and making little tweaks here and there to get it just right. As soon as I’m confident the mixes are where they should be I’ll likely be sharing them with some trusted ears to get some feedback on them (something I didn’t really have much time to do with Lemonymous last year). I’ve also been working on the booklet and art for the release, while at the same time brainstorming art ideas for the brand-new album that’s due toward the end of this year. I haven’t really focused on putting the music together for that yet because I’m focusing on the Neon Apocalypse work.
On Monday evening I had rehearsal for another project that’s going into the recording studio next week. I can’t say much about that yet because we’re keeping that mainly under wraps, however, I play bass, the music is good, and I love the people I’m playing with. I’m looking forward to getting that out there later in the Spring and seeing what kind of a reaction it gets. All of the members have their own support systems and dependable friends and connections so I’m certain that any response we get to it will be much bigger than what I get for my own stuff. I can’t wait to go out and play some live gigs again.
Tuesday I met with the Producer of the feature documentary I’m editing (which, again, I can’t say too much about yet, at least not until it’s locked and I’m giving permission to talk about it), and we spent a lot of time getting the last bits of the film tightened up so that we can get the picture locked and let everyone else (color, sound design, score, titles) do what they need to do with the thing. I’m really, really excited about the film – as much for its content as I am for the fact that it’s almost done! I’ll definitely be talking more about that when I’m allowed to.
Very often in our lives, we tend to feel like we’re not moving forward, or that we’re not getting anything accomplished. We focus so much on the fact that we haven’t completed something that we tend to forget that that doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything. We tend to use phrases like “I can’t ever get caught up” or “I don’t have time for [such-and-such]”. We get negative. We get depressed. We feel hopeless. Like there’s not end in sight or that the things we really want aren’t anywhere near our grasp.
I’m not afraid to tell you that I’m nowhere near where I want to be right now. I tend to dream big, which can be very frustrating. Emily is the same way. I often feel like I’m not getting anything accomplished or that I have too much on my plate – either because of some outside force or because I’ve loaded it myself. If I focus too much on the wrong thing, I start to feel like I’m not doing anything that I want to do.
But the truth is, when I list out the things that I’ve done, it’s quite apparent that I actually am doing the things that I want to be doing – and lots of them! No, I’m not a full-time video editor. No, I’m not a full-time musician. No, I’m not currently playing live gigs. Those things don’t just “appear”. They don’t just “happen”. There’s a lot of work and effort that goes into these things, and they are as much a part of the “doing” as anything else.
I get it – the journey itself might not seem so fun because you haven’t yet “arrived”. You haven’t reached that point where you can say “I did it”!
But don’t lose sight of that fact that you are doing it. Learn to enjoy that part.
Because once you can say “I did it,” you’re done. And it’s gone.