Before I started writing this blog post, I opened a new track in GarageBand and began remixing for thirty minutes straight. This was done without listening to more than the first 15 seconds of the song. In other words, I was remixing blind. Just switching instruments, adjusting effects, turning digital “knobs” and so on.

At the point that the thirty minutes ended, I rendered the track and waited to hear what would play… there was some good and some bad. But this was to be expected, as I would never believe that even the best of random remixing could net you a winner on the first pass. At least, not if you wanted it to sound “different”.

No, the point was that in thirty minutes, I could change something that I knew well into something completely different. By that accord, could I spontaneously change my life into something completely different in thirty minutes? The old cliché goes that your life could change in a second, from things like a car accident or a lottery win. But while you may have chosen to drive that day or play your numbers, the determinant of the rapid change was external forces beyond your control. I’m more interested in the rapid change that you can institute by yourself.

Could I just step outside tomorrow morning and be a different me? Odds are, the chances of it being something good (or at least better) than my current situation is pretty slim, damn near anorexic. Yet the routine of a day job existence that I am stuck in could slowly be killing me. Most likely it is, and I’m just too numb to notice. The different me could be that golden ticket I’ve been eating all this chocolate for.

Still, it’s tough to introduce rapid change. The body and mind don’t adapt quick enough, there’s too much shock, not enough comfort. I can’t, in good confidence, say that I would be able to pull it off. But I like to dream that it could work, and it’s nice to know the possibility exists there whenever I should choose.

Perhaps when all hope is lost for making the best of a certain path, the freedom to be the opposite of yourself somewhere else is always there waiting. Just waiting for you to begin your thirty minutes of remix. Cheers.