My desire to make money off my music killed my passion for it so completely that I stopped listening to music entirely. It was my life and my first love. I made a living and was generally considered good at it by my peers and clients. I ended up giving up a prominent spot in the local music scene because I was just so burnt out on grinding every day.

I’m just starting to get back into writing after a decade off. I’ll probably never teach again. My chops are so atrophied that I feel disabled. Like I can hear things in my head and I know how to play them. I can feel how it would feel in my fingers to play them. But my fingers feel like they’re moving through sludge. I used to literally sleep with my guitar and play while I ate. It was like an extension of my body that I’m now so divorced from.