HAWMC -Day 17 Learning the Hard Way

Learned the Hard Way. 
What’s a lesson you learned the hard way? Write about it for 15 today.

I have the timer on.. 15 minutes eh?


One of the things that I have been learning the hard way is that we can't really control absolutely everything, no matter how badly we want to. I would like to fix the world. I would like to help the people around me do well, and I would like to be successful in all of my endeavors, but life just doesn't work that way.

I have kind of believed that lists and determination just might be the  answer to life's problems.  The fact is that sometimes you have to just let go and trust that the world is going in the direction it is meant to go.  No amount of struggle and wishing are going to change the past. What you have to do is look to the future and support those around you in their decisions and you should do your best with your own efforts. Sometime you have to decide things are good enough and then relax and get on with enjoying the fruits of your labour.

 I have had several rather pitiful guitar lessons in the past few weeks. My progress is going very slowly and I feel like my playing is actually getting worse so I have been considering quitting. I reminded myself today that this was supposed to be enjoyable and it is an activity of my own choosing so just go have fun! My teacher, Rob, is a nice tolerant guy, so I decided to just keep playing today and to quit stopping when I make mistakes and to stop worrying about getting it perfect.

I actually did have a fun lesson because I was ready to not take it too seriously. I think I am actually at some kind of technical crossroad in what and how I am learning. Fingering that seemed impossible with my "reluctant left hand" in January actually worked today and I got very excited.  Rob, talked happily about real classical guitar songs that are just ahead of me. It is not about perfection, but it is indeed about progress.

I told my daughter about my theme for this post and she reminded me of some Rolling Stones lyrics.

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

Rock On!