Everyone is doing it, so I imagine I should jump on board! I want to use my blog to share my

experiences in the music industry, travelling, marketing, relationships, life, & other topics that I've had to deal with and have gone through in my life to get me to where I am today. I encourage anyone reading this to e-mail me any topics you'd like to get my angle on or how-to's on how I make music or our band merchandise and things like that to fans@bradbrock.com. I'd like to invite everyone into the discussion and create a neighborhood of knowledge and personal experience, which are some things I feel like we've lost in this instantaneous world.

I guess I'll begin by saying that one of the most important and insightful things that I've done over a large chunk of my life is keep a daily journal. Now, there are certainly many days missing from them (sometimes months, or a year would pass in between entries), but for the most part pretty comprehensive. The idea that I can look back at the person I was ten years ago is potentially life changing. From an analytical point of view, I can literally take a look at myself at times when things were going wrong and understand what was going through my head during that time. Self-introspect is such an important tool for not making the same mistakes, understanding your emotional states, learning about how you navigated situations that were presented to you in the past and more.

I get it though, "Brad, why not just look back at your Facebook posts? On This Day!". I get it and I do think it's awesome to have moments like that captured to see years down the road, but there is something to be said about complete unfiltered, deep personal thoughts that, in my opinion, can cut right to the bone. To see your own words and being able to fully remember how you felt when you were writing them is incredibly humbling.

To be personal for a moment, one of the entries (or series of entries) I read back on every now and then is when my mom passed away a few years ago. Seriously, one of the most traumatic things I've gone through. So many new emotions, so much growing to be done, so much strength to be had for my family. It was a time that tested relationships. It was a time that brought us together. It was a time when my dearest friends reminded me why they're so important and dear to me, because they were there. It may sound crazy, but I go back and read those entries because it reminds me, on a deeply emotional level, of what loss is and what family is and what love is. It's an undeniable truth because they are my words speaking to me.

So, to close, if you find yourself in a rut and constantly hitting the same brick walls in life. Get a journal and get it out of you. When the fog clears, you can go and reflect on those feelings and sort through them. It's been therapeutic for me for many years. Hopefully, it may work for you too! Happy writing...