Back to the Grind

As of last month I have two part-time jobs. I’m in video production for an agency in the greater Detroit area, and I’m a server at an upscale restaurant in the suburbs. In the push to pave my way, less than a year out of university, this is where I am. I want to talk about these jobs in relation to my creative pursuits.

I hope to make music my career, so in my free time I’m working on building that up to a sustainable level. However, in the past several months I found it increasingly difficult to use my free time to make music. I could barely look at a screen when I would get home from a day of video editing, so recording went out the window. Picking up the guitar, then, seemed less
enticing. I thought I was just a bit burnt out, and maybe to some extent, I was.

Then I took this server job. Now what I’ve found is that on days that I’m at the restaurant, my drive to make music skyrockets. When I get home, I go straight to my desk to write, record, mix-whatever; and I’m able to get things done. The wildest part is that on days where I work in video production, I still feel burnt out. The correlation is absolutely apparent. I believe expending my creativity at the agency job leads to less or no creativity when I get home. However, the lack of creativity at my restaurant job leads to a plethora of creativity later.

It’s an interesting thing happening that I’m excited to observe; hopefully it will help me further hone a lifestyle that caters to my ability to make a lot more music.

Guest Blogger: Sam Mooradian Creative and Musician

I just don't think it's good to be around too much creative energy other than your own.

— Jack Antonoff