Aca-Adventure!
Rediscovering That Which Brings You Joy
There are activities in life that bring people joy. Whether they be RPG games, snowboarding, growing flowers, or fly fishing, any activity that engages the ol brain band and requires positive creative output from us is a worthy endeavor indeed!
There are many activities that bring me joy: horseback riding, playing guitar, gardening, cryptocurrency trading, writing, but there is one activity that truly gets my neurons to sing, and ha ha, that activity is singing.
I love to sing, and I spent most of my growing up belting out all manner of tunes. I sang solos in church productions, soprano in our school choir, led worship in our church, and was lead vocalist in an alternative rock band. My life was a soundtrack and I sang the lead.
However, adulthood and its responsibilities has a way of getting you to place activities that you enjoy doing on the "I'll get to it later" shelf. For the last fifteen years or so the only singing I have done was as I did the dishes or pulled weeds in my garden. I did as countless other adults have done, sidelined my joy-bringing activities all in the name of responsibility and adulting.
In the last couple of years there have been signs of life in my singing-in-public-for-my-joy sphere. Last winter I dressed up (as a retirement favor to my boss) as the "Snow Queen" and led Christmas carols at a local holiday. It was freezing, our audio speaker died, and I had to wing it acapella. It was pretty fun, although I might pretend it wasn't in the presence of my co-workers, for I don't plan on ever wearing that little clothing while simultaneously freezing my flintlocks off in a snowstorm like that ever again.
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A few months ago my neighbor and I had a conversation about our mutual love of music and singing, so imagine my surprise when she texted me the other day inviting me to join this acapella group that some people in her church were forming for a Christmas performance. With no hesitation I replied, "Heck ya I want to join!"
So, yesterday I found myself in her church's basement with a few other people. Before our rehearsal was over we were singing all manner of tunes, harmonizing like old pros. There was even some beat-boxing to behold, courtesy of our group's youngest member, and I found myself musing over the fact that every single person in our group had remarked how they missed singing so much and were so happy to be there.
Why do we as adults do this? Why do we shelve parts of who we are and things we love to do for the sake of whatever reason? I fell into this behavioral phenomenon like a chocoholic would fall face first into a chocolate pudding mud puddle. No hesitation, and in fact it was a completely unconscious decision. My stopping of performance singing just evolved like a bacteria fighting a resistant antibiotic, there was very little resistance.
As I read over the Latin of our group's version of "O Come All Ye Faithful," I felt something that I hadn't felt for a LONG time, that little seed of joy blossoming which erupts when one is engaging in their passion. If my nerdy little diatribe here can inspire one person to pick up that joy providing activity in their lives which they have neglected or keep someone from abandoning their joytivity, then I will be beyond elated!
Now, you'll have to pardon me, I have my part in a doo-wop version of "Away In A Manger" to memorize before next Sunday.
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