Seriously, you if you stop, I know this one... I stopped being in a band I was gigging 2 - 3 nights and starting a new 8am-5pm job. They wanted to go out of the area before our area, 6 million people big had really started to know who we were. SF Bay area, wanted to go to LA. I was the only one who had a regular job. So I left the band, Also had a list of other reasons for the decision. Most of all I needed to write and practice some of my parts for some of our new material which was going to take longer than a week. I had asked simply for a break, and boom they had a replacement, so whether I quit or not is debatable. Nevertheless I was bandless, Quitting drumming was not a choice I made. We bought a townhouse which my double bass kit could not be played, or even stored. I lost my job and pawned them. To shorten my post, I lost them.
The point is, I know what will happen if you stop. It is like a heroine attic quitting heroine, or an alcoholic quitting drinking, or a long time lover leaving you for another. It is suffering, an emptiness which cannot fill up in your soul. I am sorry but if you have come this far, quitting is spiritually, psychologically, mentally and physically DESTRUCTIVE to your being. You are a drummer. DRUM!!! I tried to fill the emptiness first with Beer, then with drugs, which led me down a very dark road of despair and suffering, then I found a spark of hope with guitar, that didn't catch, no guidance really. I am only here now after 24 years of that, because I spent the last of my inheritance on a new - used DW and have found my spark as I piece together my cymbals and hardware. Still in the townhouse, but moving soon...but my spark never died, I just lost myself without the fuel to let it burn. Maybe keeping the spark going just means not turning out like i did. Keeping it going might just mean you have to think of what would you do if it goes out. How does a drummer stop. Drumming is already in your blood, in your soul. Stopping nearly killed me, and I do mean literally. It is a heartbeat. That is drumming. No mammal can survive, without a heartbeat. A drummer is a heartbeat. If you quit playing it is like quitting breathing. Feels like a heart attack but on your spirit or soul or being. A metaphysical breakdown. When you think stopping is a life or death situation, thoughts of stopping leave you. What ever your drumming goals are, you cannot get to them by quitting, so push on, never give up, keep breathing.
