For Christmas this year, I recorded and produced my own version of Priscilla Ahn’s version of “Silent Night”, originally found on Hotel Cafe: Winter Songs. I hope you enjoy.
I fell in love with this song the moment I heard it (pulling all-nighters to finish term papers before leaving for winter break my senior year of college), and every year since then I’ve thought about recording a version myself. If you’re doing the math, I’ve been thinking about this for thirteen years. I’m very proud to finally have made it, and I’m pleased with how it turned out.
I share this because I want to reflect on how I’ve changed in the last year and how music has helped me. Finding your voice is important. Confidence is important. Doing something just because you want to do it and not with a specific outcome in mind is so, so important.
That’s a new concept for me. Even now, I still have an outcome in mind - the final recording and this very post - but the fact is that I’m also doing this for no one but myself. I’m doing this to hold myself accountable, because my ADHD brain needs accountability, and as much as I want to be able to do things without that, it doesn’t work like that.
If I really want to do something, but don’t feel like I need to, I don’t do it. If I don’t want to but feel like I need to, I don’t do it. But if I want to do it, and I need to do it for any reason - and that reason can simply be telling one person, like my truly wonderful vocal coach, Martha, that I am going to do something - I do it. That seems simple, yet it took me decades to realize and put into practice.
We can get to know ourselves and pay attention to our personal needs. We can make accommodations and adjustments for ourselves to make our lives easier.
And we can do that for each other. We can meet one another where they are. We can seek to understand others’ personal needs. Imagine what a beautiful world we will have if we we all keep that in mind in our daily interactions with family, friends, and strangers.
