Picture not very relevant, but endlessly adorable.

Tomorrow I’m going to experience something new. I’ll be visiting a friend with a make-shift recording studio to play drums for a few songs on his new and final album. This is something I’ve never done before, in several ways, and I’m both excited and nervous about it.

It’s been a while since I played drum set as part of an ensemble. The last time I did so on a regular basis with the same people was in high school jazz band. This is a rock album, though, and we’re recording in a studio, not live with everyone playing at the same time. It’s inevitable that I’m going to be a little rusty. However, I was asked to do this, so I must at least be kind of good.

I’ve been beginning to understand recently that it’s important to try new things. This is an example of trying something new to expand my knowledge and passion, and ultimately become a better musician. However, that’s not the only healthy way to take on something different. It’s important to try things you can’t necessarily see yourself doing. This can help us get a different point of view on something, or on life in general.

For example, since starting college I have had to get summer jobs. I’ve had two different jobs for the two summers I have been home from school. Last summer I worked the midnight shift in a factory. The pay was nice, but the hours weren’t, and spending my nights in a noisy, smelly factory and sleeping the daytime away took its toll quickly. However, there was one thing I hadn’t thought about before beginning the job: the people who worked there.

In the area where I worked, I was the only employee there through the summer job program. The other people I worked with every night were full-time employees. For many of them, this was their career, and for others it was a way to earn a living while they earned their G.E.D.s or worked at an online degree. Regardless of exactly why they were there, it was ultimately because they had no better alternative – at least not for the time being. Working at that factory and getting to know those people gave me a whole new perspective on life. I got to see life from someone else’s point of view. Most of the people I met were nice, friendly, everyday people, despite the fact that they had to work there.

As a current student who aspires to have a full-time job that does not involve as much physical labor (though many teachers will argue that dealing with children is its own form of manual labor), it was enlightening to see what life is like for those people who make a living with their hands. It is such people upon which society is built. Most devices or appliances or furniture or even buildings people use everyday and sometimes take for granted are built by people. Human beings, who have lives outside their work. I learned to appreciate this by trying something new.

So as I go to that recording session, not knowing what to expect, I hope that everyone can learn from experiences like this. Take this advice and try something you never thought you would do. Do so with an open mind, prepared and eager to learn. Get to know people who have different tastes or hobbies than yourself. You may realize you have more in common than you thought.