Maintenance

February 19, 2008

Welcome, new visitor! My name is Ari, the man behind Aries9. Here I share my thoughts on music and life, so you can get to know me and my music. Thanks for visiting!

You never drive a car without filling up the gas, do you?

No, I don’t do that with cars. I’m sure you don’t, either.

But I do that with all kinds of other things.

Following the move and getting banged around in the process, my amps are all buzzing and cracking and misbehaving. The same thing with the electronics inside my electric guitar. I haven’t changed strings on any of my guitars yet. These instruments need periodic maintenance, especially after moving to a different climate.

And more importantly, I often forget to put gas into the most important asset.

Me.

I don’t know how I got into the habit of neglecting maintenance. I need to budget for it — both time and money. If I own something, anything, I need to maintain it. If I live, I need to maintain me.

Fortunately, I regained one very important way to refuel myself. In the previous living set-up, I had NO time to listen to music — other than some background music while working. That’s not really listening.

Now, my commute takes a little over 30 minutes. And that’s given me an opportunity to listen to music. And it’s done wonders to my mood and sense of well-being. I keep forgetting how much energy I gain from listening to music. It’s probably one of the most effective ways to recharge me.

One bad habit I have is that whenever I mess up or make mistakes, I punish myself. Even when others already do it for me, and even when there’s no need to. I say “I don’t deserve this and that. Not after what I’ve done. ”

I realized that that’s exactly the opposite way to look at it.

When I mess up, when I make mistakes — it’s precisely the time for a little pick-me-up. No, I’m not rewarding myself for falling short. I never want to or try to do that, regardless of what the consequence is. Rather, the pick-me-up helps me in regaining my composure and self-confidence, giving me the boost that help me get back on my feet sooner.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, I need to be more vigorous about being nice to myself, especially when I mess up.

Maintenance is really not an option, it’s a necessity. I strongly recommend it.

Filed under: Ari, Reflections |