Oh hey, my name is Levi.

I started playing in a new band on a fairly regular basis this year. My friend Yuki is a singer-songwriter that has been working on a new album and ask me and some of our other friends to play in her back-up band.

We started regular rehearsals early this year and went into the studio to record six tracks with a full band in addition to four solo tracks that Yuki recorded. The record will come out some time later this year or early next. In the meantime we are playing a couple of shows as a full band this year. We already played one back in September at a really cool block party thrown by Russian Recording celebrating their 20th anniversary, and we have another show coming up November 11 here in Bloomington at the I Fell Gallery. Here's an image of the flyer that I designed for the show in November.

It feels really nice to be playing music again. It was such a huge part of my life from the time I was a teenager until about 10 years ago, so it's very fulfilling to be back at it, even if it's only for a while.

It's been a heck of a few weeks around here. It started off when we got back from spending a week in Florida for spring break with some of our close friends and their kids. I caught a nasty cold the day before we left to come home which made for a not so great 15 hour drive home. I went straight back to work on Monday, failing to take the sick time I actually needed to recover which caused my cold to stick around for nearly two weeks.

The week after we got home from vacation Sam fell and broke her elbow. After X-rays then a CT scan, it was immediately clear to the doctor that the bone needed repaired, so they schedule surgery for the following day. She's recovering well, but it's all a lot to come back to after a relaxing vacation at the beach.

To round out March and kick off April we got hit with some pretty gnarly storms, including a tornado touching down, this past Friday which happened to be April Fool's Day. My mom, who lives about 20 minutes from here, lost power for almost 72 hours. Sometimes when it rains it really does pour, as they say.

I'm learning to accept that this is just the way life works. I like to image myself moving through life on one of those wave diagrams from math class. Time moves forward. Sometimes you're on peak and others you're down in the trough. I'm not good at science, and this metaphor is probably falling apart, but here's hoping your peaks are longer than your troughs.

Here are a few things to remember when you're in the trough weathering a shitstorm.

• Take something off your plate. It's ok to bail on a personal commitment or reschedule a meeting or two.
• Focus on one thing you can can control and move forward if you can.
• Take a nap. Naps rule and you don't need to earn them.

As I've grown older it's become a lot easier for me to tell when I'm in desperate need of a break. Apathy sets in and every task feels tedious, boring, and nearly impossible to finish. I've had a lot of experience, but to be clear, it took living through a deadly pandemic, starting talk therapy, and medication for me to be able to identify the signals of slowly burning out.

The best way I can describe my mindset when I get this way is that I'm mad at everything, and I don't want to do anything. I've felt this way all week, so yesterday I took a personal day to rest and recharge. I spent the day doing nothing. I laid on the couch for five to six hours, pet my dogs, watched a couple of movies and YouTube videos, ate pizza, and then went to bed early. No laptop, no productivity, just rest and purposeful distractions.

I feel like a different person today. I was able to get a wonderful night's sleep which is also crucial for a reset. This morning when I sat down at my computer everything seemed clear, I felt motivated, and was more productive than I have been for quite a while. I recognize the privilege of being able to take a last-minute day off to do nothing, but if you occasionally get to feeling this way too, it's ok to take a day off every once in a while.