You’re out on the road, playing songs you love, with crowds in front of you and another show coming up. But you’re barely sleeping, and the music you want to write keeps getting pushed aside.
What do you do when an opportunity you worked for starts taking you away from other things you care about?
That’s where our conversation took us in Season 1, Episode 6 of Do Music Differently, Music Takes Work. Joy Fuels it. Guitarist, songwriter, guitar teacher, and Spiritual Devastation founder Guilherme A. de Souza joined me from South Brazil to question the rule that success has to be earned through sacrifice.
My Believe Retreat partner, Francine, joined us too. Together, we explored what it takes to recognize what brings you joy and make room for it, even when that means changing a plan that looks pretty good from the outside.
When playing music leaves no room to create
Guilherme shared how an invitation to play a handful of Metallica tribute shows grew into about a year and a half of touring. Along the way, he also performed tributes to Guns N’ Roses and AC/DC, sometimes taking on all three in the same day.
I’d seen the pictures of the crowds and the tour bus. This was an accomplishment. He was playing music he loved and doing work he had wanted to do.
But as we talked each week in our mastermind, there was more to the story.
In the episode, he described long journeys between cities and sometimes getting only an hour or two of sleep between gigs. He needed time for his health. He missed teaching. And he wanted to write his own riffs and lyrics.
So he stepped back from the touring schedule.
That choice is worth spending some time with. If you’ve worked hard to get an opportunity, it can be difficult to admit that you want your days to look different.
What part of your music life keeps getting postponed because you’re busy doing everything else?
Let your other skills support what you want to create
We also talked about how Guilherme’s interest in English became another way to earn money.
One of the reasons he joined our community was to practice English with Americans, hear the slang, and keep up with the conversation. Now he helps other people learn English, and he brings music into his teaching.
That gave us another way to explore something we discussed with Landon a couple of episodes ago: letting Plan B support Plan A.
Guilherme is working toward bringing his original music to the UK. Teaching is part of how he’s building toward that next step. We talked about finding ways to earn that connect with your interests while leaving room for the music you want to make.
It’s a useful question to ask yourself: does the work supporting your music leave you time and energy to create it?
Joy takes practice
Guilherme’s story includes difficult decisions, discipline, and the work of keeping a band going. He also spoke about wanting his songs to reach people and inspire other musicians.
His new Spiritual Devastation song, Beyond the Edge, brings some of that experience into the music. In our conversation, he described the challenges behind it, from finding band members and recording money to deciding where to take his life next.
You’ll hear more of that story in the episode, along with Francine’s question about how much belief in yourself it takes to choose your own direction.
The rewrite we explored was this: music takes work, but you don’t have to sacrifice your happiness to prove you’ve earned your success. Joy deserves time and effort too.
At the end, I invited everyone to identify one part of music and one thing outside music that brings them joy, then set aside time for both.
What would those two things be for you? And what would need to change in your week to make room for them?
Watch the conversation
Watch the full episode of Do Music Differently, S1E6, Music Takes Work. Joy Fuels it. for more about Guilherme’s decision to step back from touring, the work he’s creating now, and how support and a clearer sense of direction can help you make your next choice.
Explore Guilherme’s playing, guitar lessons, and updates about Beyond the Edge on his Instagram. At the time of our conversation, he was still waiting for the song to become available on streaming platforms.
For future live episodes, listen through Listen Live on W4WN Radio or the W4WN Radio App. You can also watch through Talk 4 TV or the Talk 4 TV YouTube Channel.
#Joytakespractice #RewriteTheRules #DoMusicDifferently
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