Overcoming obstacles and living our dreams

July 31, 2011 by JD · 2 Comments
Filed under: A Year From Now, Act On Your Dream, Music, Musings, Personal, Self-Improvement, Success and Failure, TED Talks 

What is your dream? What are you doing to live it?

It’s a lot easier to think about something we want to do and to imagine doing it than it is to take all the steps to plan how to achieve it and then acting on our dream to make it real.

You already know that, don’t you?

Even when we really want to do something and we have a plan for getting there and we’re taking the proper steps to reach the goal, sometimes we are faced with major obstacles to reaching our dream.

I love music.

I love listening to music and I love playing music. I’ve played guitar for over 40 years and banjo for over 35. I love playing music.

All my life, I’ve wanted to play piano, but I never made it a priority.

I’ve wanted to read music fluently, but I’ve never made it a priority.

If I study a piece of music, I can work out the notes, but it’s a very slow process. I can’t look at it and immediately play it and I can’t look at it and hear the music in my head. I would like to do that.

But, it’s never been a priority. I’ve never made the time for it and put in the work that is required to master it.

Last year, when I realized that the cancer wasn’t going to kill me, and I wasn’t able to work, I spent a lot of time and effort working to learn how to read music and studying music theory. I made some progress.

As I got stronger and my thinking started clearing up, I started moving back into working and music wasn’t as important.

Then, a few months ago, I woke up one morning and couldn’t move my right hand. Not a bit. I thought I’d slept on it wrong and it would be okay if I got up and did my normal activities. Slowly, over time, it’s gotten a lot better. I’ve exercised and stretched it every day, several times each day. Over time, I got to where I could use all my fingers, except for my index finger.

Today, I realized I was typing faster and more accurately than I have since I hurt my hand. So, on a whim, I got out my banjo, put on my fingerpicks, and tried to play a song.

I had to hold my hand a little differently from how I had over the last few decades, and I had to adjust the pick on my index finger, but I found I could hit the right strings.

So, I started playing a song, slowly, as slowly as I did when I was first learning all those years ago.

You know what? I could play my banjo, again.

It wasn’t beautiful music, but it was recognizable and better than I have played in awhile.

It felt wonderful and now I’m inspired to make music a priority, again. Maybe not my number one priority, but pretty close to the top of the list.

So, now, it’s time to get back to learning how to read music and play piano. I will learn music theory and become a proper musician, and I know that will help in playing guitar, banjo, and fiddle, too.

I found a great site to help me learn to read music and play piano: Learn Piano Online at the key-notes Virtual Piano Studio by Albert Frantz.

He is an accomplished classical pianist and I assumed he had learned to play piano as a child, but I learned that isn’t true. He didn’t start learning until he was 17, and that’s considered impossible for anyone who wants to become a classical musician. Most of them start when they’re two or three years old.

He faced other obstacles that slowed down learning to play piano. Among other things, he had his fingers caught in a car door, and later, he broke his left wrist. But, he didn’t let that stop him. He persevered and approached the task from different directions.

Here’s a TEDtalk where he goes into his background and the obstacles he had to overcome to live his dream. I find it fascinating. Maybe you will, too…

This inspires me even more to pursue my goals of learning to read music fluently and to play the piano well.

I’ll never be a concert pianist, because that isn’t something I want to do, but I look forward to playing a variety of songs for my own enjoyment and for sharing with my friends.

I know that you’re facing obstacles as you try to live your dreams, too. We all do.

I truly believe that with dedication and creativity, we can find a path that will lead us to achieving the goals we set for ourselves.

Not every goal is achievable. I’ll never be the fastest runner or compete in pole vaulting or ride the winning horse at the Kentucky Derby. There are many things that are impossible for us, and I don’t care if people disagree with that statement.

But, there are many, many dreams that are not only possible, but perhaps easier to achieve than we may think.

No matter how much you believe you can do something, it may be impossible to achieve, but you never know until you try. But, you have to be realistic, too. The universe will not grant you anything you want just because you want it. You have to work for it. And even if you work for it, some things are still impossible. An easy example? I’m a man. It’s impossible for me to give birth to a child. So, I don’t waste any time wanting to do it or trying to do it. That’s just totally unrealistic. If I were a woman, however, it might be a feasible goal.

On the other hand, I can state categorically with no doubt that you will never achieve your goals if you believe you can’t and don’t even try.

As Albert Frantz points out in this video, one man may dream about being the fastest man on the planet, while another dreams about being able to walk. For the right people, with the right skills and abilities, either dream may be a major achievement.

People face obstacles every day. Sometimes we see them approaching and sometimes they take us totally by surprise. But, we all face obstacles that we must overcome, burst through, go around, tunnel under, or climb over in order to continue on our chosen path to living our dream.

Do you have a dream? Don’t let it go. Work to make it real.

Act on your dream!

JD

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