One of the things I had in mind when I started this blog was to share my life experiences with other (mostly younger) musicians in such a way that they can learn from them and be better. Today, I will be sharing my struggle with depression. Last week I apologized for my inability to publish any article for three consecutive weeks. That was partly because I was really depressed.

I know as musicians, we give hope to people with our songs, we encourage, teach, create mind shifts, entertain, and even uplift people’s spirits. We do all these and, many times, people don’t realise we have our own problems, that we are human too, that we ourselves need to be uplifted. I guess that’s why we’ve had several cases of musicians (even famous ones) who committed suicide.

Now, back to my story. A few weeks ago, I started being dissatisfied with my life. Nothing made sense to me. I lost my sense of worth and purpose; no drive, no zeal, no excitement about anything, I was just ‘going through the motions’. I would say the prevailing circumstances in Nigeria at the time, especially the state I reside in triggered it, but then a whole lot of things added to it. There were things I needed to do that had lingered for so long, then there was the thought of how my music career seemed to have been stagnant. It grew to the point that I started to doubt if any of the things I currently do is relevant at all, to anyone. I’m sure many of you reading this right now can relate because you probably had been there before.

So, how did I overcome? At least that’s the main point of this article, right? Well, my Christian faith played a big role in helping me get back to my feet.

First, I prayed to God earnestly. And I’m not talking about routine prayers here. I mean that kind of prayer where you just bare your heart out to God. I told Him if He doesn’t send help quickly, I don’t know how much longer I can hold on. Then I told my wife and two of my very close friends who started praying for me.

But one very helpful thing I did was that I went to see one of my mentors. And I think we all need people in our lives whom we can always go to seek advice from. It doesn’t even matter whether they know anything about music or not; just the fact that they have more knowledge and experience in life and they care about you is enough. It was talking to my mentor that began the process of healing for me. And here I am telling you the story today.

So, I just shared my struggle with depression and how I overcame. But I know quite a number of you have struggled with depression too and have gotten over it. I would also like to hear from you. As a matter of fact, I’m carrying out a very short survey on ‘Depression among Musicians’ and I would need you to help out by answering these questions. I would publish the results of the survey here when I’m done. Thanks in advance for your help and contributions.

Once again, here is the link to answer the survey questions on Depression among musicians.

I look forward to having your contributions.