What are your long lost passions?
A long lost friend (who shall remain nameless) asked me recently what my song lyrics are looking like lately. It shocked and embarrassed me.
It shocked me because…nobody really asks me that anymore. Well, John asks what I’ve been doing with music, but he doesn’t specifically ask about lyrics. It just struck me as awkward, and then I remembered that there was a time when many friends and family were asking (regularly) what I was doing with songwriting. It shocked me that this friend asked; and it shocked me that I was shocked.
And then I was embarrassed to realize that I have allowed this once profound passion of mine to simmer on the back burner of my not-very-demanding life. Did I used to love songwriting? Why had I stopped?
Oh, I wrote one this year…about the coffee guy. Kind of. But that was in January. How dry and uninterested I’ve been since then.
My 2:43a.m. resolution is to write a song tomorrow (well, today).
And as a side note, if you’re one of the people I’m writing letters to this week, I may just share the lyrics with you and ask for your opinion.
What are your long lost passions and dreams? Why have you abandoned them?
barefooted semmie 
Hi Sarah,
I’m trying to get back to playing music and later song writing. I had stopped suddenly a few years back, and I didn’t touch any musical instrument for a very long while. It used to be my passion, but passion can sometimes be like a large balloon that takes you to very high places….That is, until someone/something makes a big hole in it, deflating it, and causing you to fall (What I often refer to as “Crash & Burn”.). But the fall is an emotional/ psychological one that’s much more painful than any physical wound.
Shalom!
Steve
Shalom, Steve!
You know, the amazing thing about music (and songwriting!) is how much a part of you it can become. I never realize it until I’ve spent time away from it: I return to my guitar or piano, I feel a sense of wholeness, and I wonder, “Why have I been avoiding this? How empty my life has been without it!” (What can I say? I’m a slow learner.)
I know the fall can leave deep wounds, but I hope it will never keep you permanently away from that which you love. It may just be that music (and songwriting!) is the only healing for the wounds of Crash & Burn.
May there be joy and fulfillment in your music.
Pax Domini, my brother!
Sar
Journalling. I used to journal a lot. I recently started up again, and I have a lot of hesitancy in doing so. The thing is, I used to journal in the form of love letters to a guy I had a crush on. I’d fill pages just talking to him, and never sent the letters. I was like… 12. It also led to a lot of idle speculation. And then he got a girlfriend and stopped speaking to me and I was absolutely crushed. I couldn’t journal for a while. Even now when I journal, I feel so hesitant in pouring out my thoughts, even though journalling is really not in any way linked to him.
It’s a shame, because I loved it so. I’m little by little getting back to it.