Adapting To The Times

We are living in unique and unprecedented times.  The situation we are facing is one unlike anything we’ve ever faced in our lifetimes.  Depending on where you live, your life may have changed quite dramatically over the last few weeks.  I realize some of you are in locations where your day to day life may have not been as dramatically affected, and perhaps some of you are going about your day to day life more or less the same as before.   But all of us have been impacted by the Covid-19 situation in one way or another at this point, directly or indirectly.

I’m doing my best to make lemonade out of lemons throughout this situation.  I’ve developed a new routine in order to adapt to the situation where I am located currently, where life has changed dramatically in a very short period of time.  As I mentioned in my last post, for the moment I’m stuck in the Caribbean with no flights going in or out for the time being.  I’ve purchased two flights back to the states, on two different airlines, and both were cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation, with no refunds, only a credit to be used at a later date.

Originally there was a curfew from 8 PM to 6 AM, but that was changed to 5 PM to 6 AM a few days ago.  So that means, any errands I need to run, like getting food, walking my dog, getting water, etc have to be done before 5 PM.  Anyone out after this time risks being arrested.   All the restaurants, bars and non-essential businesses have been shut down for now.

So, that’s my current situation and one of the things that has surprised me the most about this whole experience is just how quickly I’ve adapted.  I now have a new daily routine that revolves around the new rules and restrictions in place.  It goes like this…

I get up early, around 7 AM.  I make coffee, eat fruit and do my morning meditation.  I work for a few hours on HTLYM and make daily updates, answer emails, etc.   I break for lunch around noon.   I come back and post my song of the day (I’m posting a song a day on social media throughout my lockdown).  I work a few more hours.  I do a daily walk/swim on the beach around 4.   I’m back home by 5 to avoid being out after curfew.  I then meet my neighbors, who live in the same building and both play music, on our rooftop for our nightly, open air jam session, which we’ve been filming and posting highlights of on my Youtube Channel, which you can see here.   Then I eat dinner and usually work on new tracks for several hours.  At the end of the day, I usually hang out and watch Netflix with my girlfriend and then proceed to fall asleep, exhausted from a full day of activity.  

In many ways, life feels quite normal, until I stop to think about just how strange the entire situation really is.  But, humans are incredibly adaptive, and certainly my ancestors lived through much harder and more arduous times than this.  This whole thing has really made me grateful for just how easy my life has actually been, relatively speaking, up until now.  Suddenly, all the petty things that bothered me a few weeks ago don’t seem like such a big deal.

The upside for me is that I’ve been writing, recording and sharing more music than ever.  I’ve been writing new songs almost every day and sharing more music and performance footage online.  Although the restrictions on my freedom and movement feel confining, it’s also made my life, for now, very, very simple.  I joke with my girlfriend each night and say, “What should we do tonight?  Hmmm, I say, after a thoughtful pause, how about we just stay in tonight”.   Then we both have a good laugh.  Humor is important in times like this.

When your options are limited, life becomes simple, and in some ways, actually less stressful.  I’m using this period to catch up on all the things I’ve been putting off due to my normal schedule and I’m choosing to view this as a great opportunity to be productive and creative in areas that need more attention.

In terms of HTLYM and HTLYM Premium, I’ve been making some major changes to the site and using this time to update the content in the member’s area.  I’ll be announcing a major promotion later this week, the biggest in our history, that anyone who wants to use this time to further their licensing, songwriting and composition careers will be able to take advantage of.   Look for an email with all the details in a few days.

In the meantime, stay safe, stay productive, stay creative and keep the music flowing.

Best Regards,
Aaron Davison

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My neighbors and I have put together a band, a project that will last as long as the lockdown/quarantine lasts.  We're calling ourselves "Bandits Of The Apocalypse", which is a pretty kick ass name for a band if you ask me.  We're doing a series of rooftop concerts which we'll be posting footage of on my Youtube Channel.  Here's a clip from our first performance:

Subscribe to my Youtube Channel here.