Bumps in the Road

I had a spa day yesterday. My wife gave me a gift certificate Valentine's Day for the local spa, and I've been saving it until I really needed it. After the last few weeks, my inner voices suggested to me the time had come. I had a one-hour soak in a hot jacuzzi followed by a massage from head to toe (note to my libertine friends in New York: Not that kind of massage). Today I'm relaxed and much more clear of mind than I have been in a while.

I've learned difficult practices all my life. I've been a sleight-of-hand magician, among other things. When I was in school, Calculus was hard, as was Particle Dynamics and Geometry. I plugged through them though and eventually my sluggish brain accepted these new skills. But obtaining new skills takes time and repetition--and patience.

One thing I've learned is that are periods of disillusionment when you realize some things are just hard to learn and you wonder if you can do it. Your mind rebels. Sometimes you have to trick it. You have to misdirect yourself. Give yourself rewards; play the carrot-and-stick game. Keep yourself motivated. The difference between someone who can learn and someone who won't is perseverance.

I truly think most people give up when they hit the first hard bump. Many people want to learn a new skill, but as soon as it starts to become difficult, they think, "Oh, this is too hard," and give up. This first bump, in my experience, averages out at about six weeks. If you want to pick up inexpensive exercise equipment, start checking the want-ads in the newspaper or on-line about six weeks after Christmas for those abandoned New Year's weight-loss resolutions.

But if you have the determination to power through that six-week slump, I truly think you can see it though. Now there will be other bumps along the highway to achievement. Many of them. I can speak from experience, because I'm one of the very few people I know who accomplished his childhood dream. I knew I wanted to be a wizard when I grew up. I saw magicians on televisions and I knew I wanted to amaze people for a living. Now I perform Mind-reading and Hypnotism shows, which is even better. It wasn't easy to achieve success in this field, and there were a lot of setbacks. But I kept going. I can't really tell you what kept me going, but I knew if I gave up even once, I would never try again, so I never quit. There were times I whined a lot, and times I lost pretty much everything due to life disasters, but I managed to recoup and kept the dream alive. I scraped by somehow.

I won't say it didn't cost me. Sometimes it cost me a great deal. I had to make difficult decisions. Some people thought I was crazy to sacrifice the security of a "real" job for the roller-coaster of self-employment. Well, I suppose if you've survived as many economic ups and downs as I have, and seen as many people as I have out of work while I still did shows, you may redefine your idea of job security. But until the day she passed away, my mom never thought I had a real job, and many people have shared that sentiment. "Work," in many people's minds, can't be something you do unless it involves going to an office and having a boss yell at you. So I try to yell at myself for ten minutes every day just to satisfy these people. It doesn't seem to help, though my neighbors don't bother me anymore because I have a reputation.

So the point is this: learning this piano business is difficult. I'm finding once you master one skill and think you have it licked, you move on to something else and it's as if you started all over again. I can see why so many people give up or remain at a certain, very simple level (Rock and Pop music require very basic skills you know). If you look in the want-ads or on Craigslist the musical instuments section is enormous. People buy an instrument (guitars seem especially popular) and maybe take a few lessons and find it takes a lot of practice--and my piano teacher says that even people who take lessons hate to practice. So after a while the instrument sits around gathring dust, because most people only do (1) what they have to do, (2) whatever's fun and (3) sleep and eat the rest of the time.

My message to you is if you have a dream, pursue it with diligence, and see the bumps in the road as rest stops. Take a moment to catch your breath and look around for a moment. Maybe all you need is a little perspective. If nothing else, give yourself a spa day.

The Blues:
When I was a much younger man, around age twenty I believe, I dabbled with the blues harmonica. I gained some prowess with it but not enough to play with a band, though I did play once or twice with a friend's band to the surprise of my friends. Here is a picture of a much tubbier me doing so:It occurs to me now that I understand music better I could pick up this instrument again and ply it with deeper understanding. You know ther's a formula concerning how Bluesmen get their name. The first part is a infirmity, the second a locality, and the third part a name (Like Blind Memphis Slim), so mine would have to be Dyslexic Indiana Johnny. Look for my fist album, Singing the Lubes.