Learn a musical instrument

“There is often literal pain that accompanies learning to play an instrument, and this, as much as the technical frustrations that arise during the learning process, can be a terrible deterrent for new musicians. In the first week or two that I began playing the guitar, my fingers were constantly red and sore from being unaccustomed to pressing on a hard fretboard. I persisted, though, and by playing just five minutes a day I built up callouses and gained some strength in my fingers. Now, I don’t struggle nearly as much with pain or pressing while playing.”

“Frequently, I’ve found my immediate response to being unable to find the right fingerings on the fretboard, properly sync my left and right hands when playing, or play a rhythm correctly to be frustration and a desire to put my guitar down and do something else. The finished product I desire is so tantalizingly close. I hear it every day in the music I listen to – excellent guitar players executing complicated chord changes and sliding with ease up and down the fretboard – and it kills me that there are hundreds, even thousands of hours of practice between my current skill level and adept musicianship. This is natural, though. Frustration is a normal part of the learning process.”

“When I was little, I entered the school talent show. I remember singing ‘Read All About It’ and being the most nervous I had ever been in my short seven years of life so far. I used everything I’d learned in my vocal lessons and practiced lots, and although I like to think I have come a long way since then, winning that little talent show might be one of the proudest things I’ve achieved, as that was the moment I started to truly believe I could be good at my instrument.”