3 questions to ask yourself before quitting a career music

Don’t give up on your music dreams quite yet! We know it can be a long and winding road, so here’s a guide that helps discouraged musicians find their path again.

by Christine Elise Hubbard from SoundFly

Like with many creative pursuits, the lifelong dream of doing music professionally is a rollercoaster. 

When you’re high, you can feel like you’ll never come down; and the lows can certainly feel like you’ll never get up again. Know that you’re not isolated in this experience, and it is the journey of many that came before you, will come after you, and that many are currently experiencing right now. Music can be a fleeting obsession for some, and a hobby for others. 

That is okay. 

But if music is truly part of the fabric of who you are, and you know in your heart it is truly what you’re meant to do, then make sure to ask yourself these very important questions before you give up on your dreams.

Why did I fall in love with music in the first place?

Think back to the earliest point you can where music had an impact on your soul. Was it your first music lesson, a concert, special time spent observing or learning from someone you admire? Maybe it was a collection of experiences combined over many seasons that allowed you to feel a special kind of love and fulfillment that you don’t experience with anything else. 

Those feelings are not meant to be ignored, they are meant to fuel and inspire you to keep going. People don’t find themselves pursuing music by happenstance. The calling to be a musician is like with many types of artistry, a deep and almost inexplicable desire to create through your medium, which derives a satisfaction within that no other career path could possibly provide.

Could I ever see myself doing anything else?

Know that if the answer to this question is: “yes, it’s okay.” You can totally enjoy all the wonders of music, in both creating and consuming, and not necessarily need to pursue it as your primary career path. Plenty of talented musicians do it purely for the happiness it brings to them personally, within groups of loved ones, or from time-to-time for public consumption as a side gig. 

But if you know that the former does not apply to you, and you truly acknowledge that the idea of being “stuck” doing anything else would torture you day in and day out because all you would be thinking about is your music dreams, then that is something you are not ready to let go of. Not now, and not ever. 

Get back on the horse, and keep riding, partner!

Will quitting my pursuit of music be something I regret for the rest of my life?

Imagine it is, actually, the end. I don’t mean to be morbid, but in order to properly answer this question, I need to take you there, and I need you to really be there with me. Imagine you are looking back at the days of your life. 

All the twists and turns, and the people you’ve known, all that you’ve experienced. And now, all the things that you’ve feared. 

• What’s keeping you from pursuing your music? 
• Is it a fear of failure? 
• Of not being accepted? 
• Of not being able to truly “make it?” 
• Is that fear real?
• Or is it merely a healthy understanding that hard choices and sacrifices will need to be made in order to get you there? 

If you want it bad enough, you can do it. It is as simple as that. Learn, grow, connect, share, work hard, never say no, and never say never. If you know in your heart that the biggest regret of your life will be not fulfilling your musical dreams, then you have the answer you are seeking. 

Music is a part of you, it is what you’re meant to do; and the best gift you can give yourself in this life, is the opportunity to live it out beyond your wildest dreams.