FAC Insights: Resident Mind by Blue Rhythm (episode 3)
FAC Insights is a forum for us to showcase and share long form pieces looking at various parts of the music industry and the society that shapes it. Pieces take the form of videos, interviews, discussions, articles and more. This week we are delighted to share the third installment of our newest FAC Insights series called Resident Mind, delivered by Friends of the FAC, Blue Rhythm. They represent leading professionals within the fields of mental health and substance use in order to facilitate anonymous treatment, support and resources for the music industry.
Blue Rhythm’s core aims align with the FAC goals of creating tangible change in the music industry. Blue Rhythm is designed for artists, by artists, to support the music community with issues that need to be handled carefully and with utmost care. Their anonymous network of support was created so that the music industry has access to pre-vetted, highly qualified therapists, who have experienced the industry first-hand. Therefore FAC were delighted to welcome Blue Rhythm onboard in 2020 as a Friend of the FAC. As part of this partnership, the Resident Mind series was created.
There’s a time and a place for tough conversations, and more often than not, we can find ourselves holding back, trying our best to just carry on. Resident Mind is a 3 Part Series from the founders of Blue Rhythm. These episodes are designed to provide the FAC Community with tools to help navigate your life in music. See episode 3 below.
Resident Mind
The music industry requires a solution for a mental health and addiction crisis spanning decades - musicians are three times more likely to suffer from such issues, however, there is no industry specific solution to mitigate this crisis at scale. Today’s epidemic persists due to a support gap which Blue Rhythm seeks to help fill, working to prevent artists from suffering alone. We focus on healing what is not necessarily visible, ensuring issues which can compromise both ability and success do not negatively impact a life in music.
In the Resident Mind series, we’ve created three episodes which provide useful tips and tricks for dealing with certain mental health and addiction issues. Each episode features our portfolio of medical professionals, who walk you through some of the challenges you may face as a member of the music industry. These episodes are designed to be short and straight to the point - we’re not here to waste your time. We created the Resident Mind series after growing tired of hour-long presentations which left us with more questions than answers. We wanted to make it easier for people to access support wherever and whenever. And finally, as we ease out of the pandemic after two years of Covid-19, Zoom quality recording just wasn't cutting it for us.
The Resident Mind series draws to a close with Episode 3, which features our video on ‘The Cave’. In this episode Coach Lee guides us through this analogy, helping to explore and understand the feelings of both anxiety and depression. Learn how to respond to the voices in your head that may be holding you back, how to separate negative thoughts from your identity, and move beyond this echo chamber of internalization to better understand yourself, and your mind.
There are some days where everything simply goes to sh*t. The studio’s lost power, covid has cancelled your show, that all-important meeting you’ve been simultaneously rehearsing for in your sleep, whilst also dreading its very existence has been rescheduled - life as you know it seems to crumble around you. Welcome to the very back of the cave - it’s quite dark here. This place is where all of your negative thoughts, feelings towards yourself, perceived failures, shortcomings, mistakes, all of it, come and have a party. You’re of course invited, but it’s sort of a Dinner for Schmucks situation.
Just as you’ve learned to throw your phone to the side, or turn off your instagram comments - remove yourself from anything and everything negative to give yourself the necessary time and space to take a breath and be fully separated from the world inside that addictive hunk of metal, the same needs to be learned for separating yourself from your brain. When your mind is at the back of the cave, it’s all too easy to beat yourself up with guilt and shame. Some days the only seemingly-rational solution will be to blast ‘Easy on Me’ through headphones on an endless loop, pleading for your brain to listen. And there in part lies the problem: your brain isn’t always rational, and well it’s mostly, to use Lee’s words: “about 99% of the time, feeding you utter bullsh*t.” The beast of the cave is that obstacle where you can line up a perfectly rational argument and present it to a person, and the very fact that the response isn’t coming from yourself somehow validates the argument, but if you’re able to speak as honestly, as thought out, rehearsed, and rational with yourself, it would be almost too easy to feel ‘normal’ and exit this dark space.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that just as you reach an adrenaline peak during a live performance, where the crowd and music are so perfectly in tune the moment creates an utter state of bliss, there are also moments when creating music is the main source of emotional release where this can prove itself to be not only triggering, but exhausting.
Every single day is a different day. Just as you were seeing clearly and breathing fresh summer air on Tuesday, Wednesday may prove to bring a grey fog which feels impenetrable. In these moments it’s important to not only be gracious with yourself: in how you speak to yourself and in how you react, but to also be gracious in what you do, and in what you tell yourself.
The dramatic peaks and troughs of a life in music can feel inexplicable, and perhaps the analogy of a cave doesn’t necessarily work for you, but some of principles and techniques, such as ‘Compassionate Voice’, which Coach Lee has outlined, may serve to help navigate and manage any feelings or symptoms of anxiety and depression you may be experiencing.
If you have any questions, or just want to have a chat - our website’s chatbox is anonymous - feel free to reach out anytime. We are always here to help and support you throughout your career in music.