-
Hi Anthony,
Whew…my reaction to your note is mixed – on one hand I’m really relieved and grateful to hear that the tumor is non-cancerous, but imagine that the idea of surgery and loss of hearing and the unknowns related to this must be challenging to deal with too.
My first thought was a book by Winifred Gallager, titled “Rapt,” which is a book about focus and attention. She’s a science writer, and cancer survivor, and talks about her experience with cancer, and going through it with an eye on the scientific literature on focus, and how that can shape our experience of life. I also thought of Angela Duckworth’s book “Grit” – which at one point gets into the idea of having a “life philosophy” which I believe comes from Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll (who in turn was inspired by legendary UCLA coach John Wooden), and seems like it might be an interesting exercise to consider. Carroll has written an book too, in which he describes the low point of his life that led to this, though I’m only a couple chapters in at this point so don’t know how relevant it might be. For some reason, I’m also reminded of a book that a client once gave me, titled “29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life,” by Cami Walker.
As far as musicians with hearing loss go, I think there are actually quite a number who have described increasing hearing loss (and/or tinnitus) as a result of being exposed to loud music in orchestras, bands, concerts, etc., which are often much louder than we think and cause more damage than we realize. Kris Chesky of the University of North Texas has done a lot of research in this area, which might be of interest (http://music.unt.edu/faculty-and-staff/kris-chesky). But that’s not really what you’re asking I think.
Other than examples that we’ve all heard – like Beethoven or the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson’s partial hearing loss – I did some looking around, and found this interesting story: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/meet-the-partially-deaf-musician-sharing-the-joy-of-homemade-music_us_58c1a530e4b0ed71826af3fd
If you have a moment, and are so inclined, please do keep up this thread, and perhaps we (and hopefully others) can keep thinking of other stories or resources or strategies for continuing to move forward through the inevitable ups and downs in the months to come.
Noa
