Happy New
Year!
Today is a
new day. Why is it that it never feels quite so much like a new day as it does
on January 1st? Every day is full of as much potential as any other.
Yesterday is gone. The mistakes, the good jobs, all of it can be viewed from a
bit of a distance. And all there is to do is make the best of today.
I had a
music teacher who really hit that home for me. It doesn’t matter if what
happened in the practice room yesterday was amazing or terrible. Every day you
have to relearn how to play your instrument. You have to remember how your
fingers move, how to breathe, the correct way to form a good embrasure (how
your mouth forms around the mouthpiece), etc. You just have to try to make
every day your best.
Obviously I
didn’t make it as a music major, so I’m not going to lie. There were days in
the practice room that it went so terribly I quit early. I decided it was
useless and just made me stressful. Those days were wasted. It would have been
fine if I had taken a break to relax or found a way to continue practicing
without “pushing through it” (my arms would get so tense. It was bad).
Well, to
keep things short, make sure you show up and do the work. It’ll take practice.
Make sure you don’t waste your time in the metaphorical “practice room”. Make
sure you give yourself time to warm-up and re-learn how to do things properly.
And most of all, do it because you love it. If your passion has gone out, reignite
it. Don’t just give up. It meant something to you at one time, right? What
changed?
