medium.com: As an artist or touring professional have you ever felt like you don’t have any role models out there showing you alternative ways of coping with the stress of touring? Are you unable to turn down drugs or alcohol and use food as a crutch to deal with stress? Are you caught up in rock and roll lifestyle? Do you have FOMO if you don’t party after the show?
Are you not able to keep up with your “normal routine” — not having time or making the time to work out and sleep, or even have privacy?
4 comments:
Just reading about the author’s experiences with touring already stressed me out. I’ve always wondered what exactly makes artists on tour so stressed out and drained and this article answers it. Their bodies are on fight or flight mode 24/7. It makes sense because they are performing in front of thousands and thousands of people every night. On another note, I found the backstage crew’s perspective on touring to be very insightful. I think their stress and experiences are often the ones that do not get noticed. Their role is vital in the performances and they get just as much anxiety as the performers. Reading about the author’s experience with Kanye’s tour and the death threats they received, I cannot imagine how they get through it. With social media today, people are so quick to denounce someone for situations they don’t have the full story on and it’s so easy for them to get to other people. Although saying it is easy, it’s important to keep in mind that we can’t control what other people think of us and do so don’t give them attention.
Burnout is an incredibly real thing (obviously) as many articles on the blog have warned us. But this one takes it a step further, to a physical effect worthy of hospitalization. I think self-awareness is the most important part of this article, and a general summary of all of the tips and advice provided. Self-awareness takes strength and grace, to step back and take a look at yourself and your habits, and make observations about what is working and what needs to change. For me, this has manifested itself in journaling: I get to brain-dump every night (most nights… my current late-night productivity scheme (and lunar gala) is messing with my flow) and hash out the events of the day and how they’ve affected me. I can look for patterns year by year, and get a better understanding of what makes me tick and what drains my energy and creativity.
This feels especially relevant as I just finished working on Lunar Gala. This production required a lot of hours, but for me they were condensed primarily within this week. This morning I was quite exhausted, but I really powered through two runs and the performance today. It's been hours and I still feel the rush of adrenaline that powered me through tech. While I'm really happy with how energized I was throughout, I do see how this mentality can become dangerous. Sleep and food and mental rest are often postponed when one reaches the intense parts of a schedule. But touring seems like everything is intense all the time (at least from what is written in this piece about concert touring). This lifestyle seems unsustainable if there is no break. And this is important to remember in all aspects of health (mental, physical, spiritual). What is the point of working so hard towards a career if you feel too exhausted to enjoy it?
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