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The Confident Musicianing Podcast
Avoiding burnout during your breaks --- don't do what I did
Today we are comparing two different breaks that I took recently. One was overwhelming and didn't let me rest at all, and the other was more balanced.
This episode is available as a blog post. Click here to read.
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Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. My name is Eleanor and I am a British American oboist studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland literally my dream school and it took me a long way to get there. I applied and auditioned for 12 schools in three different countries. It was a lot of hard work but, oh my gosh, so worth it. I want you to have the confidence to work hard in achieving your goals, so come with me as we go on this journey together. So sit down, pull up a chair, take a seat or, if you're on the go, welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast.
Speaker 1:Something that is very different, something that is new to me as a uni student, especially when in Europe, is that the breaks here from the academic year are much longer and more frequent than what I've been used to. When I was a high school student in the States they were much shorter and not not as often, whereas now they're longer and more frequent. And naturally, as someone who's not necessarily used to that, I have had to figure out what I do during those breaks and I'm a musician so I practice. But recently I've had two different breaks one at the beginning of the year and one just recently and they have been very different. I treated them very differently and I had very different outcomes. One was not as good as the other, one was definitely better than the other. And so today I want to share with you these two breaks, how I dealt with them, what I did during them and how they ended up helping me or hurting me through this. So let's dive into it.
Speaker 1:The first break was at the beginning of the year, and before this break I was in an opera, I was in a few other ensembles, I was preparing for an oboe technical exam and at the time I was working through some personal stuff as well. So there was a lot in the situation. I was very busy, I was very overwhelmed, mentally I wasn't the best, and so just to like set the scene for this break, that's kind of the background, and so when I went into this break, I was absolutely exhausted, absolutely exhausted. But I this break and I took it as an opportunity to work on things like the podcast and things like social media and getting some extra practice hours in, and just basically I'm like, okay, good a chance, because I've been focusing so much on, you know, uni work and you know, because I was in the opera, which was a part of a project at my conservatoire, and you know all of these things. I was like, okay, finally some time that I can work on the podcast, I can work on confident musicianing, all of these, all of like the stuff that's not to do with university. I can focus on that now and I can practice. I can practice a ton.
Speaker 1:And I remember that Saturday, at the beginning of this break, I had two weeks and I spent two hours that Saturday afternoon just planning my week or my two weeks, literally every single minute, including the fun stuff. What am I going to do? You know where am I going to go, what am I going to do? But those were very few and far between in terms of fun, exciting things. It was mostly okay I'm going to get this done, this done, this done. I'm going to get these emails out and they'll probably have replied by two days later. So then after that, I'm going to get this, this and this done. And it was just so busy, so busy and at the end of it like okay.
Speaker 1:So the first week went okay. I was okay. You know, I got the stuff done and, honestly, I felt quite good about it. I was like I've planned this week, I've done it, I've gotten into it. Oh my gosh, this is great.
Speaker 1:But then, by the time the second week started, I was behind on my plan. And so not only was I behind on my plan, but I was also feeling really stressed out about it. Because I was behind on my plan, I was like, oh my gosh, you know, I only have two weeks to get all of this stuff done. What am I going to do? So then I, like, worked more, and you can tell this was a catastrophe. It wasn't good. I didn't give myself rest, I just worked and worked and worked, and at the end of it, by the time I got back to school, I was even more exhausted than when I got into it. I wasn't ready to focus, I wasn't ready to work, I felt exhausted, and I ended up failing that obo technical exam. My idea of, okay, I'm going to, you know, be productive, I'm going to do the best I can, I'm going to be, you know, super, super Eleanor in these two weeks, ended up making it so that I ended up failing an exam because I had overworked myself too much, and by the time I got to the exam, I had nothing left. Nothing, I was like so that didn't go well.
Speaker 1:That was the first break, and so by the time the second break came around, I was determined not to do the same thing, because on paper it had looked like I had done so much. I had, you know, just all of the things I had done, but mentally, emotionally, just in me, not good, it wasn't good, and also I had failed that exam. So the next break, I was like, okay, let's do it differently. So break two Break two was three weeks long and actually today is the last day of this break at the time of recording, so it's fresh in my mind and I did a few different things. Number one I did not take a Saturday afternoon and plan the entire break out. I didn't even take a Friday afternoon and plan the entire break out. I didn't plan the entire break out. I had some ideas of what I kind of wanted to do. I have some school work that I need to get done or that I have been getting done, and things like that. Obviously I wanted to practice, I had goals, but I didn't do things like okay, you know it's Saturday right now.
Speaker 1:Next Thursday afternoon at 2pm, I know exactly what I'm going to be working on. I wasn't going to do that because that was a bit much we had learned from before. That was too much, and so what I did was I just put my goals and then I was like, okay, and now we're just going to kind of go with the flow, sort of we're going to have our goals and our plans, plans and we have our you know our everyday things and I know that you know I'm going to end up doing this thing on this day, but it took the stress out of it. I feel of like, okay, today is whatever, and I know that I need to get this, this and this and this done and I have to do it today because tomorrow we have 20 more things that we need to do.
Speaker 1:It was more chill and, honestly, that took the stress out of it. It took the stress out of it and it made me be more in the moment. I spent more time grabbing coffee with friends or chatting with friends. I like ran into people on the street as well. I noticed things. I noticed things, I didn't notice things. The break before and I just was more in the moment and more calm and that was so much better.
Speaker 1:And also, when we're thinking of like productivity, right, because I feel like my brain, and maybe your brain too, would say, okay, well, that's great, but were you not as productive I? I feel like, honestly, I was more productive during this break than the one that I planned meticulously because, yes, I spent more time grabbing coffee with friends, but during those conversations with grabbing coffee with friends, I was able to learn things from them, like I have really interesting. I have interesting friends. No, but like at the conservatory, you know, there are people who have are doing projects. Maybe they need an oboist. I got, you know, opportunities that maybe I wouldn't have seen if I hadn't been just just calmer generally. So there were things like that, you know, and I think those conversations are valuable and so that's kind of how that worked and I think that that was much better than just me in my flat on my computer, like sending emails to strangers to, you know, get opportunities. That's great. But also I, you know, having conversations with people slowing down, honestly, I feel like got me farther, further, and so that was good.
Speaker 1:I still practiced, but because I feel like I had more space in my life, I felt like I had practiced better and I was also calmer with myself. I struggle with pain in my practice. I have some chronic illnesses that make it so that if I play oboe too long I really struggle with pain. And so because I was generally calmer and not kind of pushing things as much, you know, time-wise I was able to take the breaks I needed in my sessions and still get good gains in my sessions without hurting myself, and I think that that is really really important and helpful in this situation and in the breaks.
Speaker 1:So I think the second break was better. I got so much, so many more cool opportunities. So many more cool opportunities came and I was ready to work on them and to receive them because I had time to. I had more fun times. You know I hung out with friends. More I went places, more I was more chill. You know, I decided I opted to maybe have a study session at a coffee shop rather than having it in my flat. I could have probably spent more time studying if I stayed in my flat because, you know, coffee shop, you have to pack up your stuff and then you have to go and then you have to get a drink and then you have to sit down and then open your computer. And so maybe you know, technically speaking I could have gotten 20 more minutes if I stayed in the flat, but I enjoyed myself more, right, if I went to a coffee shop, and I think that's way more important. And so I think break two really helped me to be better generally and to feel better generally. And now, as you know, tomorrow is the first day back at term, back at the conservatoire, and I'm ready for it. Honestly, I'm actually really excited to get into things, to study, to work hard, because I feel rested. You know it's much better.
Speaker 1:So kind of thoughts from these two things. I've just given you two scenarios and there's definitely one that's better than the other. But some thoughts that I have is the first thing having a plan is good, but the plans change, right. The first break that I did, I had a plan and I really had a plan and I did not allow myself to change the plan at all. Right, and when I didn't change the plan and I got behind on the plan, I got stressed and scared and sad and all the bad words about all the negative stuff. But now in this second break, I had a plan, right. I was like, okay, I want to get this, this and this done. But I knew that it was going to change. And, you know, other things came up, opportunities came up and I still, you know, make time for the things that I needed to make time for, but I wasn't as stressed generally, because I hadn't created this plan that could not change. So plans change.
Speaker 1:Breaks are for resting. This is the second thing. Second thought breaks are for resting. As musicians, we still tend to practice, but finding time for us is crucial. I think you know I practice throughout this break and the other break. I also practice. There are times when I don't practice. You know, um, during last winter, I took a week off of Oboe, um, so you know, taking practice breaks is also crucial as well. But even when we are practicing, finding time for us, finding time for us that we need is crucial for our well-being as musicians and also our practice as well, our growth. Resting is productive.
Speaker 1:And the last thing is with the second break, I sat with myself more, I think the first break, um, I was so I wasn't doing very well mentally, um, honestly, and so I busied my schedule so much that I didn't have to sit with myself and face the fact that I was struggling mentally and because of that, you know, I struggled more. But this break I sat with myself more. I have now a habit of I mean, I had this habit and I got out of the habit and now I'm back into it of doing five minutes of meditation in the morning just to check in with myself and being like, okay, how are we feeling today. And being able to do that and to sit with myself has really helped me to know what I need from the day, you know, and be like, okay, is today the day where we can tackle the bigger task, or is today the day that we look at some of the smaller tasks and maybe the bigger task can happen tomorrow? So things like that, that is much that's really helpful as well. Okay, yeah, so these are some thoughts from the two different types of breaks.
Speaker 1:Before we do a little recap of this, I want to tell you about something exciting. So, basically, you know, in both of these breaks I practiced right, I practiced, and I think, especially with breaks when we were breaks from an academic year, breaks from a schedule, we often feel like like for me at least, I often feel like I need a schedule. I'm like, oh my gosh, what do I do with all the time? I don't know. And especially with practice, you know we can look at a break and be like great, more time to practice, but then oftentimes for me, I find I go into a practice room and I just, you know, kind of I'm not very productive. I put the hours in, but do I actually put the time in? Or the effort I put the time in? Do I put the effort and the focus in? Is it good practice?
Speaker 1:And so something that has really helped me with my practice is planning my practice, and a tool that has helped me plan my practice is a notable practice journal. This notable practice journal has really just transformed my practice. Honestly. It makes it so that I can plan my practice and then I can reflect. It has reflection questions and a reflection section so that I can look back on my practice and honestly be honest with myself and be like, okay, you know, was that too much, was that just good? Was that effective? Should I change this, that and the other? And honestly, I feel like that aligns more with the second break than the first.
Speaker 1:As soon as I knew that this journal was working. I knew that I had to tell you about it and I knew that I had to give you a code. So use code ELENOR15 for 15% off your journal. That is, e-l-e-a-n-o-r 1 5 for 15% off your journal and get yourself a journal and get practicing more focused and more effective and intentional. You know that I don't recommend anything that I don't absolutely love. This code is an affiliate code, which means I do receive a commission with no extra cost to you.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's do a bit of a recap. So the first thing, well, the first break, we could tell I it wasn't very good. I um was doing way too much. I had a plan and I I just stuck. I had, you know, I made myself stick to it, um, and I didn't change it and it was very relentless and I ended up getting behind it, which made me stressed and, um, I didn't give myself time to rest and or or just check in with myself honestly, and it just, you know, on paper I did so much, but actually I felt really not good and I ended up failing my Ogo technical exam because I couldn't at the end. You know, by the time I got to the exam I had worked so hard that I just had nothing left to give.
Speaker 1:Break two was much better. I still had a plan, an idea, but it was more of an idea and it wasn't as strict, or you know, it was just, it wasn't as strict and I could change it and I could work through it, and that kind of took the stress away of having a plan, because sometimes plans that are too rigid give me stress. I spent more time with friends, not just friends like chilling, hanging out, having fun, but also I spent time with friends talking about social media and podcasting and doing things like that, and stuff like that can be really helpful as well, because it's social, but we're also idea balancing off one another, and so that break was so much better. I feel much more rested and much more excited to get back into academics. So, yeah, so the basically thoughts from that having a plan is good.
Speaker 1:Plans change, though, and we need to change with our plans. Breaks are for resting. As musicians, we do tend to practice, but finding time for us to just be people is very crucial. And the last thing is the second break. I sat with myself more, so I was able to know more what I needed, and I feel like just checking in with myself every single day to be like how do we feel today is really helpful, and I definitely didn't do that in the first break.
Speaker 1:All right, that is about it for this episode. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I hope that this was helpful and I hope that you found something from this. If you did enjoy this, please do give it a like, a comment, a subscribe, a follow. Depending on what platform you're watching or listening to, it's different, so please do show the love. And, yeah, all the links to do with this episode, including the blog post to do with it and the link to get your notable practice journal, will be in the description in the show notes, and I will see you next time. All right, take care, bye-bye.
