Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gabe Wolf. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Gabe, sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.
I’ve gone through periods, especially in my twenties, where I was truly struggling with my mental health. The rock bottom in some of my depressive episodes was so bad that I seriously contemplated ending my life several times.
Two things helped me through that: therapy and psychedelics.
I was in therapy for a few years, but felt improvements in my daily life within a few weeks of beginning my sessions. The improvements in my thoughts, feelings, and actions compounded as I continued that journey.
Psychedelics (mostly weed) helped me to put into perspective everything that I was learning about myself and how to best live my life. I only smoked 5-6 times over the course of a year and half, so it wasn’t a regular thing. But it helped me to zoom out of my life, and see myself from a more objective perspective. That objectivity allowed me to realize who I am on a deeper level, and allowed me to feel more compassion for myself and others.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I make rock music, similar to Foo Fighters, but with an early 2000’s electronic and alternative flavor.
For me, one of music’s greatest qualities is it’s ability to allow people to feel heard. That’s what music gave to me when I was a kid, feeling lonely and insecure in unstable environments; the ability for artists to go deep and share their personal, vulnerable truths helped me to understand that I wasn’t truly alone, because I heard myself in that music.
So I hope to give back to people what music gave to me, by sharing my deepest vulnerabilities. If there’s someone out there that feels alone, or misunderstood, I hope they can listen to my music and know that someone else out there understands what they might be going through.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
My three are 1. emotional and mental endurance, 2. following your intuition, and 3. learning the hard skills.
Emotional and mental endurance come with sticking to things that are difficult, even if you’re uncertain that you’ll achieve the result you want. This is something I do unintentionally… I’m just obsessive over the things that I enjoy (making music being one of the main ones). If you obsess over something for long enough, over time you see yourself progressing to levels that you didn’t even know you could get to. Once you see those results, sticking to other things becomes much easier, because you have the confidence that you’ll see good results in those things as well.
Following your intuition is something I learned mostly from flawed relationships in my past. You know when someone isn’t good for you, but actually trusting that gut feeling, even if you’ve seen no hard evidence to support it, takes time to learn how to do.
Learning the hard skills is essential… I went to school for audio engineering, and worked in a few recording studios as an intern, assistant, and eventually engineer. Now I can make professional quality music from my apartment with just a microphone and some software. I can do that because I learned so much from those experiences, and have put in thousands of hours developing those skills.
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
My parents were both college professors; my dad taught art history, and my mom taught English until she eventually became a full time writer. In our household, art was held in high esteem, and was discussed regularly. I’m the youngest of three kids, and each of us became artists in some way… I think it was only natural, given what we were taught to value.
Even more importantly, my parents were incredibly generous and encouraging when it came to creating art. I remember them being absolutely blown away by songs I had written which were, objectively, terrible. But their encouragement instilled a confidence in me that I carry to this day. Without their generosity, I may be much more lost on my path in life, because I wouldn’t be so ready to pick up my guitar when I had something to say.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gabewolfmusic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabewolfmusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabewolfmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd5IwGQbpaXEvTSqovPR1gw
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/gabewolfmusic
Image Credits
Benjamin Stein, Jacob Lauing, Dan Saltzman, Renee Kay, Ben Hecht, Rion Ezra
