This is the first time I've ever written a blog post but I'm the type of person who over thinks in general and have a million ideas at any given time running around my mind (Slight exaggeration... Maybe). So perhaps it makes sense for me to do this, for the few or many that might read it and want to understand how or why I pursue music as a profession.

At the very least, this might be some form of release for my overactive brain.

I've always liked trying and taking up new hobbies, however music wasn't something I instantly gravitated towards when I was younger. I was always curious about it and had plenty of artists I liked to listen to; but as far as the creating side went, I didn't have much interest. I wanted my hobbies to be a complete distraction from 'regular life' and something I could use as an escape, so learning music academically didn't appeal to me. (Even though part of me is still curious to try that route at some point). There has always been a piano in my house sitting somewhat ominously in the corner of the room. When I was 13, I just decided that I wanted to be able to play something or anything competently on it. So I started learning the obvious 'Fur Elise', it took me a couple of weeks to learn the basic version and then I left the piano again for a few months while I went off to do my next mental distraction.

Like so many people in my generation, I started listening to Linkin Park when I was about 13/14 and it just suddenly hit me that I didn't have to play only classical music on the piano. I know this is quite obvious but for some reason I just hadn't made this connection, maybe the sharp contrast of styles was the cause for this epiphany. Anyway, I started working on a piano version of 'Numb' and I think this is where I realised the potential freedom that music could give me. (I literally could keep writing/talking forever so I'll skip a few parts of the timeline) I kept working on piano covers for around 2 years, along with some small original ideas until I finally bought a guitar off a friend. I figured it could be fun to learn and might offer a different type of challenge to the piano. This is around the time when things started to click for me; I practiced whenever I could get the chance and I found that even when a piece was very difficult to play, I didn't get discouraged. I just kept working on it until I felt happy with the result. This cycle has been and will continue to be repeated endlessly. I find it addictive and a bit like an odd form of meditation, I can funnel my scattered and unproductive thoughts into a single problem that I can actually solve. I can feel calm.