The PROs and CONs of a MUSICIAN getting a REAL JOB

Hey everyone. It's been 2 months since I last visited Steemit and I feel like it's been more than a year. I am totally out of touch with what's going on around here and I am struggling to even begin finding out. It's been a tough two months - I have accumulated a lot of debt and I was no longer able to pay it off by simply doing music. I had to do something and I had to do it fast so I decided to turn to my last resort - getting a proper job. It's something I've been thinking about a lot and always found a way to sort of ''postpone it'' because I was afraid it was going to affect my creativity and the lifestyle I'm used to. I would always get by somehow and something would come out of nowhere to get me through another month. Unfortunately, at one point, there was nothing to get me through another month except listening to Neil Young on repeat and telling myself that I'm not the first and only person to ever be in this kind of situation and that this too shall pass. Two months ago, a job opening at a customer care service opened up and I applied for the job. The money was decent and it didn't require any special kind of qualification. I went to the interview and two days later, I was sitting at my desk, working for a monthly paycheck. It's been two months, the paycheck still didn't arrive and I'm flat broke, tired and miserable. Anyway, there are a lot of pros and cons of finding a real job if you are a musician and here's how it's turning out for me.

PROs
You know you are going to get paid

Ok, I'm still a few days away from my first paycheck, but I know it's going to be there. That's probably the biggest PRO in this situation. Being a freelance musician means you mostly don't know how much money you'll make each month and when you're going to see it on your bank account so there's always a chance you'll miss out on rent or pay the rent instead of buying food. It can get frustrating and tiresome and it really unables you to plan ahead because you never know how much money you'll have the next day. If any.

There's a purpose and a schedule for each day

I know it sounds a bit strange, but I've had more than a few days in my life where I felt there's no particular purpose to what I'm doing. I would have nothing to record or produce, no unfinished songs and no new stuff on the horizon so I would just sit around the house, having coffee, smoking and feeling sorry for myself. There were times where I just couldn't take it anymore so I would force myself into recording something, just so I would feel the day didn't go to waste. Another major thing was that I never had a schedule. I would often sleep until the afternoon and then stay up all night, ready to go and do stuff when the rest of the world is sleeping. A good thing about having a job is that everyday has a purpose - going to work and working so you can get paid. When you finally have a few days off to do nothing, it doesn't feel like wasting time and it's something to enjoy, rather than to dread. Another great thing is that there is a schedule you have to keep track of - getting to work on time, remembering your shifts and breaks and organizing your life around that idea. No more sleeping in or forgetting there was something to attend to.

CONs
Switching in between shifts

One of the worst things about being an agent in a customer care service is that customer care service is always open. There's always someone that has to be there for the customer. That's something that reflects on the shifts - there are morning shift, afternoon shifts, night shifts, 4 hours shifts, 8 hours shift, overtime, working weekends and holidays... Having to work 5 night shifts in a row really gets to you - you're tired, you sleep most of the day and then when you have a day off before switching to another kind of shift, you can't fall asleep. It really affects your body and your mind in a lot of unpleasant ways and it's probably something I hate the most about this job.

Doing the same thing all day, every day

Music is something that is always exciting and different. You get to experiment and venture into the unknown, you never know what the final product will sound like and you get to meet new and exciting people all the time. Having an office desk job is exactly the opposite thing. There is no excitement, no experimenting, no new people to meet and you have to do the exact same thing over and over again, trying to get the exact same result. It's really something that kills the mind of a creative person and something that can turn you in more of a robot than a human being. It's something to look out for and I feel it's very important I try to keep my creativity going in such an environment.

Being too tired to use your free time

Every time I get home from work, I'm tired. I just want to get into bed and watch a TV show, maybe have a beer and go to sleep. I spend most of my free time just relaxing and trying to get some rest before I have to go into work again. It's something I have never done beofore. I used to spend all my free time doing music or thinking about music. I would go see shows, I would work with my band or I would stay at home and practice my bass. I would never just relax and watch TV, trying to get some rest. These days, I feel like it's all I am doing, apart from going to work and it makes me feel really uncomfortable. I tried to force my body into staying up and recording some new stuff but it would just give out at some point and I would feel like shit the next day when going to work. I couldn't concentrate and I had nothing done. Sometimes it feels scary, the idea of becoming a ''sit in front of the TV and go to work'' person.

A couple of days ago, I recorded a new song. It was the first time I've recorded new material since I started going to work. It made me feel great. It made me feel not all is lost. I started to feel like my old self again and it maybe me think there's still a way to keep a part of my old lifestyle until this money situation goes away. The reason I got a job was to try to be a good boy for once. So here's the song, simply titled ''A Good Boy''.