Keeping the faith

I guess I shouldn't have complained. In the last week, I've lost two students, sat in cat pee, got pooped on (by a bird), got 10 cold sores (in one day! on my lower lip), pooped my pants (just a little - I don't want to talk about it) and my regular church job is having some financial troubles in this turbulent economy, and so I won't be playing there until further notice. Bummer. Big bummer.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is par for the course when you're a freelancer. Well, maybe not all the poo and pee, but the job insecurity. You may think everything is just fine, going along la-de-da, you have all your ducks in a row, and then suddenly you have no idea where your income will be coming from. As far as I'm concerned, I'm okay for now, I do have enough gigs lined up in the coming months to be okay, it's just disconcerting how fast life can change.

When I first came to New York, I was starting my graduate degree and I didn't really know any other string players. I didn't have a gig for 6 months. I laid in bed for the first month of living here and then when school started, I focused on that. When I finally got my first gig (a concert at Columbia) I was thrilled! Until I found out it wasn't a paying gig. Then I was more on the resentful side. Then, once I got my website up and running, things started to change. I got a few gigs, then a few more, then I started making connections and the work just seemed to take off. By the time I was about done with my degree, the gigs were pretty steady and I was feeling confident that I could live as a freelancer.

I need to remember to keep the faith. I know that this is a difficult time for many people, but as my husband is also low on work, it's going to be a bit tight for a little while. Who knows? Maybe it will be for the best. I do have several projects I would like to start working on and this will certainly give me some extra time to delve into uncharted waters. I can start my album, train for that 5K, work on my Russian, start Slim in 6 (from that infomercial), start a new practice routine - all those things I've been too distracted to work on. Maybe it'll be great.....