The story behind Edison's light bulb is a well-known one, he had failed ten thousand times before inventing it. In order to pursue something to that length, one must really be driven by a genuine passion/love for it. In a previous post, I had said that prodigies learn to love what they do at an earlier stage in life. Every good creation is a result of this love. Though most of us get that spark towards something, we do not love it enough to sustain our inclination towards it.
Ten years back, my sister got me a guitar as my birthday present! I liked the idea of me playing it and looking cool, so I fumbled with the strings for a few days and just gave up. It took up a huge portion on the loft and I never saw it again until last year. Last year, I took it down and learnt to hold two chords, but it was too painful on the fingers that I only practiced for one or two days and left it again. Two months back, I made my third attempt in the last ten years, at learning to play it and this time, I started with an intent of trusting the process and to get through difficult experiences, to keep coming back to it again. At first it didn't seem like something I could do. I have seen great guitarists producing beautiful music out of it and the way that they seemed at ease while playing, gave me the idea that the process of learning to play was also going to feel the same way, where I can just chill, play and sing. But everything is hard and it is okay to do hard things. A beautiful creation invloves the sweat and strain of the artist. Learning can be hard, but the thought of singing along to music that I create with my own hands motivates me. There is a lot of coordinating to do, it feels like a brain exercise. At first it was challenging to hold the right strings and to remember the chords, then transitions became the hardest part, it still is. Strumming seemed too complex after that. Only from two days ago, I was able to generate a sound that resembled what I intended to hear. When I first heard it, it felt amazing! Like how Rachel feels when she listens to Emma's cute little laugh for the first time! "Thangamey" was the first song I learnt. I had no idea pursuing little interests like this would give me so much happiness. I like expressing through music. I am really grateful to a friend of mine, who makes it easier for me and helps me a lot with the learning.
I just keep telling myself to believe and trust the process, that even if it took forever, I would not regret practicing. All of us have little interests like this that we abandon just because they seem difficult, but try going after them, you sure wouldn't regret it because you certainly would get it!
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