Pay Attention to What Makes You Come Alive

I once heard my friend Steve Moakler say, “Pay attention to the people and things that make you come alive.” He was making the point that the stuff that makes us come alive is a great way to learn what to pursue in our own lives.

This concept of chasing the things I loved was instilled in me early on, thanks to my mom. I remember her encouraging me to go wherever I wanted to go when I was looking at colleges. At the time, I wasn’t sure exactly where that was. I decided to stick around Kansas City for a couple years to think more intentionally about college, and then for my junior year, I decided to follow my love for music and give Belmont University a try.

I picked up and moved to Nashville.

Living in a city full of musicians as a musician is either incredibly inspiring and motivates you to work harder, or it does the exact opposite. The culture of the city made me come alive. It gave me a desire to learn as much about the industry of creatives and the players involved as I possibly could. I made a list of artists I wanted to meet and hoped to one day connect with these people to gain insight on their lives and the decisions they’d made to get to where they were at.

Through several conversations with touring musicians over the years, I learned about the tension they all lived in — loving their art, but also having to balance new and exciting opportunities while keeping their families in mind.

Fortunately and unfortunately, the more I learned about the lifestyle, the less I saw myself in it long term.

I heard a lot about being gone.

There was a common tension about having to travel and be away from family in order to make money. I could sense their constant distractedness in public, due to being noticed or approached by fans. I recognized their insecurity while performing, not knowing how many people would show up and buy their records and thus, provide meals for their families the upcoming week.

Photo Credit: Incase

Learning these things did the opposite of making me come alive.

But there were some things about their lives that did make me come alive. Traveling and seeing new ways of life had a way of broadening their perspective. Performing for fans meant conversing with new people each and everyday, people they never would have encountered if they’d just stayed home. Touring also sounded like an adventure, full of memories and life-long stories. That sounded interesting to me.

So what did I do?

I lived it out so that I could feel both of these perspectives for myself. I wanted to know which experiences would make me come alive. I decided to release some of my own music and travel. Sure, there was a pressure to sell records, but also a joy in connecting with new people and traveling that I had never felt before. In time, I leaned more into the idea of pursuing the aspects of the lifestyle I enjoyed, while trying to eliminate the negative stuff.

Would it be possible to still connect with new people and travel occasionally without the complete lifestyle of a musician? I kept making tweaks to my life, pursuing the stuff I knew made me come alive, not knowing where it would all take me at the time.

Eight years later, I’m no longer pursuing music. I decided that lifestyle wasn’t for me.

And that’s okay!

The pursuit wasn’t a failure because it helped clarify the things in me that I ended up working toward. The love of connecting with people and traveling has not ceased, so I keep that a part of my life. While I love being home with my wife, I enjoy hopping on the road for a couple days a month. That pace is sustainable for me and also gives me energy and inspiration.

As you enter 2015, take some time to consider what Steve said. Who are the people and what are the things that make you come alive? How can you live each day to move closer to those things? What idea or dream do you need to try out?

Chase what makes you come alive.

Pay Attention to What Makes You Come Alive is a post from: Storyline Blog