As for many MANY people, the past 18 months have been an intense time of transition for me.
I had moved down to Charleston, SC four months before the pandemic hit, filled with optimism and plans for how I would, I hoped, be able to form new connections while continuing to travel back to the East Coast for the occasional singing gig.
That was not to be.
There was so much I came to value about my time in Charleston: exposure to a new culture, finding new friends in unexpected places, eating really frickin' delicious food.
I also didn't sing. Not in public and not professionally, anyhow.
In some ways, that break was exactly what my voice, my heart and my soul needed. I was forced to take a step back and try to tease out what it was about singing that motivated me as well as deal with some old wounds that had scabbed over but never fully healed. Was singing important to me because of public recognition? Or was I craving a deeper and more personal connection to my ability and drive to express myself creatively?
I moved back to DC a month ago and I'm finding that the answer is somewhere in the middle. I have (I hope permanently) shed some of the sense of competition and comparison that has eaten up so much of my time in the past, but I'm also remembering all too fully that there truly is nothing like the feeling I get when I'm singing for an audience.
And so that begs the question: what on earth is this website for?
As I spent some time today updating the performances I have coming up, I was faced with what my season looked like two years ago in 2019. Hint: it was much more full! And I found myself torn between wanting to be honest and vulnerable about the challenges I've faced and am currently facing versus wanting to hold onto that image of myself projected in my headshots: an image of someone who is confident, has a concert schedule that's full to the brim, and knows exactly where they're headed next.
The truth is, I don't know any of those things! And so I guess the purpose of this website is for me to stumble along through this year and keep track of some of the creative expressions that will bring me joy along the way.
Love and hugs,
Gen
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