The other day, I was talking with a person I had met at a conference. He was a Financial Advisor by trade, but a sound mixer by night. His salary came from his day job, but he made a bit of money on the side by mixing recordings at his local church. His favorite type of recording session is when the band would introduce a new song and once it caught on, the entire audience would be singing along. During recordings where the song is upbeat and loud, and the band would really get into it, and he said that the tricky part in editing the recording is debreathing it.
New word alert. I had never heard of ‘debreathing’. So, I inquired further…what in the world was debreathing? Turns out that debreathing is the process of removing or reducing the volume of breaths in vocal recordings. The technique improves audio quality by removing unwanted inhales and exhales that occur when recording the human voice. And, when the band gets into it, it accelerates the heartbeat, which in turn, causes them to breathe more heavily. Which, as it turns out, no one wants to hear heavy breathing when jamming to your favorite song.
While it can vary widely, often the process of debreathing a song can take over an hour. I was floored. How had I gone this long through life without knowing about this debreathing process!?!? I was fascinated to say the least. And, as with most of my essays, it made me think about how this process could apply to our lives and our pursuit of purpose.
You see, there are times in my life when I’m on autopilot…going through my day and routine without much effort or intentionality. I reflect on these moments in 2 ways. The first way is that we all need rest. It’s ok sometimes to take a pause and allow your mind and body to catch up, to heal. The other way is that I often catch myself as being complacent, borderline lazy during those times. We don’t get more time on this earth, how dare I waste it by not working hard at my moments, at my days.
Then, there are times when I get after it. My life’s song is upbeat and has a fast tempo. Metaphorically, my heartbeat gains pace and my breathing accelerates as I strain my mental muscles and flex my intentionality. I get my workout in first thing in the morning. I crush things at work. I close the deal. I meet with my friend over coffee. I engage in meaningful conversation with my wife. I pause to spend time with my kids. I spend time with my Creator. And at the end of the day, I’m spent, mentally exhausted and breathing heavy.
Yet, as I think and reflect back on my day, I look at my workout and realize I didn’t hit my run pace goal. Things at work were fine, but someone made a comment that I took personal offense to, and I responded less than kindly. I closed the deal, but the mountain of complexity ahead seems stifling. Over coffee, my friend spent the whole time complaining about their life, and he brought me Below the Line with him. My meaningful conversation with my wife was more of a venting session about my coffee with my friend. The time I spent with my kids ended up in an argument. The time I spent with my Creator felt rushed and pointless. I’m spent, mentally exhausted and breathing heavily.
Same day, two ways of looking at it. So…I must make a choice. I can either allow all this to burden my sleep, or…I can debreath. I can take the time to go back through my day’s song, and take out the parts that don’t really matter, that shouldn’t count towards all the positive that happened. Ultimately, it was a great day. A lot was accomplished, all with intentionality and purpose. Far be it from me to get down about it all, rather, I choose to focus on what went well, on what was accomplished, on what mattered most. Debreathing my day’s song allows me to get back Above the Line, and rest in satisfaction of a hard day’s work.
What about you? All the complex clutter of your day got you Below the Line? All the ‘breaths’ ruining your life’s song?
Pause…debreath…reflect on what went well. Pull yourself back Above the Line.
And live on purpose today.
