Grooming as a Method of Tuning the Self-Instrument

There are days when one finds themselves in a daze that lasts longer than anticipated; it is perhaps the rust that generates from sheer stagnation, or, maybe from overheating.

Now, the fog that carries oneself may cause the locomotion to arrive at a stop one didn't envision at the beginning, and that too is perhaps not as uncommon as I would like to believe.

It matters not, for this state is something that one finds themselves in.

In a state like so, the body appears hostile to oneself, not as a co-entity but as an active, harmful force trying to disrupt one’s ability towards resonance with the world.

It is the small things, minor, and perhaps the most irritating for it.

The itching caused by the sun, the excessive heat-induced sweat storms, your unkempt appearance and the toll of not showering the day before, the early evaporation of the fragrance meant to keep the self calm and present oneself as presentable to the world, the slight reflection in the passing window, your hair twanging in that obscure and hideous direction.

Grime, sticky, icky, hindrance, all of it.

You didn't know, but many strings of your instrument started to untune mid-performance, and now you are left with a painful awareness of being stuck mid-performance with an untuned instrument.

You had planned to perform a solo today, before you entered the stage, you thought you were adequately prepared, and yet this FU$%$@# ITCHING!

I lost myself there, hmm… lets get back to the instrument

It is obvious what one should have done, it is obvious to everyone, yet, it was seen as negotiable.

“Ohhhh, its not that hot, the weather is fine, I will just wear my regular office clothes, if it gets bad I will just remove the coat. IT will be fine, I got this!”

You tell yourself with false bravado, knowing full well this is nothing but a facade to hide the fact that you woke up late and couldn't run your ritual properly.

To call oneself a musician, one cannot let go of the basics, to tune your instrument before performance is NOT an option, it is a mandatory requirement.
To not do it, then, is an active terror against the one who will perform later, i.e you.

It is not surprising that the idiom,

‘Man is his own worst enemy,’

exists

You may be wondering what the point is, what am I trying to say in such a convoluted way?

Simple, self-grooming is a mandatory method to tune the self-instrument as one performs for the stage of life.

Or in even simpler terms

Taking care of one’s hygiene is paramount if you want to feel confident in day to day activities, otherwise even small things grow exponentially large and can annoy the damnation out of you.

One more thing, though

What to do if you are stuck performing when your instrument is untuned?

Simple, yet deeply difficult during the time of untuning, find the groove and focus only on syncing with that, not the effects, not the piano, not the guitars, not even the drums.

Groove

Your body is more intelligent than you give it credit, it will lead the way, but you do have to keep the groove in mind, and you will find yourself feeling again, even if for a bit, until you can tune yourself.

If it sounds mystical for a reason, partly it is, the words are meant to reveal and also to excite.

I wonder what your method is for finding your groove, hehe.