A Time to Reflect, Look Forward, and Celebrate the Now
Singing is an ongoing, immersive journey, and sometimes - like at the end of another year - it’s nice to take a moment and see just what we’ve accomplished with our singing. You may surprise yourself with the little, and sometimes big, victories - maybe things like, “I improved my diction - I finally sing with softer “r” sounds,” or “I sang in front of my mom/kids.” Maybe yours sound more like, “I didn’t quit,” or “I have accepted that I can practice when I can practice, and a little bit is better than nothing.” I invite you to take a moment to sit in a cozy spot with a warm beverage and your singing notebook, and write down all the singing victories you can think of for 2021.
Now before you get up, write down a few new singing goals for 2022. Whether they’re big or small, it doesn’t matter. But rather than saying “I will” or “I hope to,” start each goal with the words, “I look forward to.“ “I look forward to singing in a private karaoke booth with friends,” or “I look forward to making a note of every exercise that really helps me with my singing challenges, and practicing those once a week.” See how that phrase takes away some pressure and rigid expectation? This phrase may or may not work for other goals, but for singing, which comes with so many emotions, let’s try this experiment this year and see if it helps set us up for less frustration and more celebration!
Speaking of celebration, let’s take a moment to be in the now. I am so bad at this! And I know I’m not alone. But I am setting aside a full week at the end of the year to hit pause on all the ongoing music projects, and just enjoy this festive time of year with family, friends, and twinkly lights. If you’d like to take a moment right now to be present with my latest video on youtube (ha ha!), this is a reaction video to a lively, bouncy holiday song with two top-notch singers, Ariana Grande and Kelly Clarkson, who sang “Santa Can’t You Hear Me” so flawlessly I started to wonder if it was real. I reveal my ruling about that at the end of the video. :) Wishing you a happy, healthy, and song-filled 2022!