Soooo, I’ve never been really good at trusting my instincts where creativity is concerned. I am a self-confessed serial songwriting workshop-er, as I always feel there is something more I can learn from mentors and songwriting peers. I’m also a little too concerned about what other people think and as a creative person this can be both a good quality and a paralyzing one. It challenges me to write and re-write and make the song the best it can be. It can also stop my creative process dead in its tracks. It really is a fine line, a delicate dance that I am still working on perfecting.

I’ve let feedback get to far inside my head and as a result, I’ve taken years to finish certain songs. Perhaps they are not meant to be. Or, perhaps, they are my exercise in knowing when to take it and knowing when to leave it. I know I can’t please everyone, but I try to be mindful of giving the listeners what they are want.

A mentor of mine recently bestowed some of her wisdom on me, comparing too much feedback from too many people to mirrors in a fun house. Everyone holds up a different reflection of you and your music and after a while you start to see a distorted version of yourself and your music. She went on to advise me to pick 3 people whose opinions I trust and who understand my music and me the way I intend to be understood. Those 3 people should be my “reflection” or sounding board for when I can’t get out of my own head.

So, this is my challenge to myself…to find my true reflections and to start trusting that what I see in the mirror is the real deal.