Are you here?

Hi Steemit!

So, I’m about half an hour away from playing a gig with “Olvide San Telmo”, a world music band.

We, as musicians, are really -really- used to waiting.
We wait for the bus to go to a rehearsal space, we wait for the previous band to finish their rehearsal (never on time) so we can get in, we wait for the live technician to set everything up after we arrive to the soundcheck, we wait until we are close to dominate some technical stuff, we wait for students to arrive on time, etc, you get the idea.

So, while I’m waiting I noticed the amount of art around me in this small dressing room, and noticed a sticker that (in English) asks “Are you here?”.

I then started to think about how many times we are doing something and we are not really there.
We are supposed to be enjoying something, but we are thinking about being somewhere else; we are spending time with someone, but we are thinking of being with somebody else. The sticker had a point, at least for me.

Then I started to think about how much does my time cost? Not in economic terms, but in life terms, how much time of my life did I spend with things I didn’t really care, and how much of my life did it cost me?

Now I’ve been at this venue for about 4 hours, we did the soundcheck and are now waiting for people to arrive.

I’ve been staring at my cellphone so much in this 4 hours that I almost ran out of battery, which was fully charged.

How much did this cost me? The result makes everything worth it in this case, but was it all that necessary to spend more than 4 hours of my life for one hour of joy playing music?

How many times do we face similar situations in our life?
Was I here? At least for this last 4 hours, I don’t think I was.

Are you here? I hope that while you read this, you are.

Looking forward to your experiences, follow me for (probably happier) topics and music recommendations at @matiasmenarguez

See you around!!