Re: Losing The Will To Play Guitar

mylesgtr wrote:
There's been research showing that 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per
day has as great a beneficial on mild to moderate depression as does the
antidepressant fluoxetine (Prozac), but costs much less and has other
benefits like improving cardiovascular health. A walk in the sun in a
green place full of life can be a wonderful balm for the soul.

the only thing that works for me is exercise, eating almost nothing
but vegetables, fruit, whole grains, and lots of water, getting my
sleep onto a healthy schedule, and not drinking too much. but i think
the longest i've ever managed is about two months of that. doesn't
take long to fall off again. i just went through about 3 weeks of
daily exercise, eating extremely healthy, not drinking at all (even on
gigs), and getting to bed at a reasonable time at night. now i'm back
to not exercising, eating crap, drinking, and staying up until 5am.
of course i feel like ***.

for me, music and guitar aren't the problem...those start to fall back
into place whenever i get my life together. and when it falls apart
again, i go weeks without wanting to touch my guitar. it's been this
way since late october of 2006. for the longest time, i had no idea
what i could even do to make it better. now i know that exercise,
eating healthy, not drinking too much, and sleeping like a normal
person will help get me out of the endless cycle of negativity and
hopelessness. when that happens, the music falls into place again
without even trying. so for me, the struggle is to keep on doing the
stuff that i know helps me. don't know if any of that is helpful, but
for me, it's the only way to feel like a normal person again. if you
haven't tried daily exercise, eating super healthy, drinking lots of
water, drinking little or not at all, and staying on a healthy sleep
schedule, then try it...it might work. i've tried just "forcing out"
the negative thoughts and tried to just magically become a happy,
positive person. it doesn't work for me...all aspects of life have to
be fully functioning or else i know i'm faking it. otherwise i feel
like i'm just blowing a bunch of fast *** over a tune i don't really
know. and for me, metaphorically learning the tune equates to all the
stuff i mentioned about exercise, eating right, etc.

of course, it also helps to limit the amount of time you spend talking
to other people who are likely to bring you down. and it probably
doesn't hurt to periodically remind yourself how much more fucked up
your life could be under even slightly different circumstances.

good luck,
myles


Just caught your post. Exercise is great, but when you're not feeling well it's tough to get out the door. I wish you all the best in feeling better.

Steve

--
Mark & Steven Bornfeld DDS
http://www.dentaltwins.com
Brooklyn, NY
718-258-5001
.