turn this cacophony into an orchestra

Grad school has been a blessing. It has, if anything, opened too many doors and I'm having trouble keeping them all sorted in my mind. If life is like a song, I'm struggling to find a way to lay these tracks in their right place so they can run concurrently, rising and falling on their own energy within the tempo of my life. To find a way for them to sing together as an orchestra, each supporting each, working towards a greater beauty than their separated sums.

I was feeling overwhelmed with all the parts of my life moving in different directions: my 9-5, the literature review for my schoolwork, a research project I want to begin in January, liaison work for another program, and a personal project that I want to make a career out of. Leaving unmentioned friends and loves, this has been a lot to listen to as they shriek in dissonance, each competing for my attention. Muting these thoughts and opening a book found my answer:

He hasn't fully grasped how to make of multiplicity an accumulating strength rather than a frittery weakness. How the many selves can be, in song, a single multitude. Not a cacophony but an orchestra, a choir, a dazzling plural voice ... In short, he is still trying to settle on his one true line to follow. Still looking for ground to stand on, for the hard centre of his art.
Rushdie - Ground Beneath Her Feet

There's some wisdom to that. Don't see competing songs as disruptive, but as calling for their home amongst the rest of the voices.