Ages ago, I wrote this..
The night was cold.
I had been debating whether to take the plunge or not.
The pool was empty.
I had left my towel back at the villa on purpose.
Somewhere within, I did know that the fitness centre didn’t give towels.
It was a ready made excuse, after all.
I touched the water – and darn, it didn’t feel that cold. Could I sell the ‘no towel’ excuse to myself?
I trudged back and got my towel.
Touched the water again, and it hadn’t gotten colder.
I got changed.
The night was cold.
I had to take the plunge.
An image flashed by – a flabby unhealthy me.
I jumped..
The water was great, the swim was great and I felt great after an hour in the pool.
And I wondered how many such great experiences I had talked myself out of, without even trying.
And felt thankful for the many times I had actually taken the plunge.
That experience came to mind in January. I had just gotten back following a lovely vacation and I was debating whether or not to start guitar lessons as I had planned.
My mind drifted to the Boyce Avenue concert in November when I’d decided in a conversation with a friend who’d joined me that I would learn the guitar. It had been a long standing dream and one I somehow never mustered enough time/energy for. 2012 would be the perfect time as learning the guitar would be my proficiency for the year. Thus, I made up my mind. And when I was away, I kept mentioning this idea to framily – the idea was to sub consciously prepare myself.
And I was mulling about this over that Saturday evening – would I be able to keep up the commitment? What if I bought a guitar and didn’t play? What if I couldn’t play? What if I never found time?
Full of self doubt, I reminded myself that we are our harshest critics and more often than not, we often refuse to give ourselves a chance.
I decided to stop over thinking it and just take the plunge. I did a few Google searches, contacted 3 teachers, heard back almost immediately from one of them, checked his videos out on YouTube, spoke to him and was buying a guitar within a week.
When I think of my guitar journey over the past couple of months, I’m reminded of the iPhone4 tag line ‘This changes everything. Again.’ It’s been an incredible experience learning to play my favourite songs. I’m heading back to Singapore for a few days and can barely wait to strum along with friends (all the 2.5 songs I know… a 100 times! ;-)). I am very very excited!
It’s also a lovely part of my daily routine – 20-30 minutes that I really look forward to at the end of a long day.
And to think I nearly denied myself this experience.
A nice reminder to quit over-thinking every once in a while and take a leap of faith.
Take the plunge. It will change everything. Again.
Will it be good? Well, change is what we make of it.
A Learning a Day 