artist - Stevie Jewel

01.12.18

Burnout: 5 Strategies for Overcoming

I usually keep my blog posts to Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, but last night I had something on my mind and felt like I had to share it with you.

Burnout. It’s the scary part of doing anything you love as a career. It doesn’t have to happen when you’re the busiest, it can creep up on you until suddenly. Then you just can’t seem to find the motivation to do what it is you love. It can come from too much work, not enough sleep, feeling torn about directions, really anything. I’m sharing this not to make you fear burnout, but to help you see that it’s really just a part of the creative process that can be worked through.

Tips for overcoming the feeling of burnout:

1. Take the pressure off.

Why did you start doing this again? Because you love it! You get joy from working at something you love. That’s the real treasure! It takes so many people YEARS to find what they love, and you found yours! Enjoy that!

2. Remember why you started.

You started this because you felt and hopefully still feel something magical about it! Strip away any pretenses and go back to the beginning. Find the piece of it that makes you come alive and focus on that.

3. Set new goals.

Your goals don’t make you happy anymore? Change them! Don’t become so married to an achievement that it robs you of the joy in the act itself!

4. It’s about the creative process, focus on making it good, then great.

Don’t get caught up in the hype of gaining public (or friend or family) approval. Focusing on what is popular or approved of can take away the unique qualities of what you do and why it’s special.

5. Take time off.

This would be the final step. If you’re not sure how you feel about it anymore step away for a little bit. If it really is just burnout your muse will call you back, and your case of burnout will be over.

What do you do to overcome getting burnt out?

11.19.16

Radio Tour Real Life

The past two falls I’ve been in school while being on radio tour, and people always ask me how it’s possible to juggle so much travel with being physically present in class. The truth is, it’s just like anything else, you just do it. I’m so fortunate to be able to work in music because I love it so much, and so if it means early mornings, lots of planes, sometimes trains, and always automobiles, it’s worth it. Today I want to share with you some candid photos; sleeping on the car ride between stations, doing homework in the hotel room, squeezing in some holiday goodness from Starbucks, and an interview at Country 107.3 in Tillsonburg Ontario. What are some things that you love to do, even if at times making it all work can be a fun challenge?

10.04.16

Great Lakes Country Interview

On Saturday morning before the days events began I got to sit down with Country 103 Great Lakes Country and got to share news about the new music I’m working on, the upcoming album, and the CCMAs! It’s always great to connect with listeners and share some live music, which is exactly what we did! I played an unplugged version of Off The Market live on air. Then we got to chat about what it’s like to be on tour, making a record, and spending time between Nashville and Canada. They also broadcast the show live on Facebook which always makes for some candid moments!

04.09.16

Photo Shoot for the New Song

I love creating an image, especially for a photo shoot. When you write music you have a vision in your mind of how the story of the song would play out in reality and in video shoots and photo shoots, you get to bring a little bit of the song to life in images. The photo shoot I finished this past week is for my new song that’s coming out very soon! I’m so excited for this song, and I can’t wait for you to hear it! I’ll be posting about it when the song is released and telling the story of the writing process for this particular song. In the mean time here’s some behind the scenes shots.