Start with a Dream; then Take Action!

Some believe that in order for us to achieve, we must take action, whereas others believe that in order to achieve, we must dream.  Both of these beliefs forget to acknowledge the other. How can we take action without a dream?  Do we simply run blindly in one direction?  And how can we possibly achieve only by dreaming and no action? “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”   

Right now is graduating season.  Ecstatic graduating college and high school students are cheering and celebrating their achievements over the past years whether the past few years have been 4 years or 30 years.  Gasps of relief and accomplishment overwhelm the students as they reminisce and see all they have gained and grew over their years. How did get recognized to graduate: by dreaming? Everyone starts with just a dream, but it is what we do with that dream that defines us.  Should we take action to make that dream attainable one step at a time, or should we leave a dream in the dream world-untouched?  

Along with graduating with the bare minimum requirements, there are those who graduate with honors and with more recognition than the ones who barely scraped by.  Usually the ones who graduate as-let’s say for example- valedictorian have memories of all the sleepless nights to study for their biology test or to finish that extended essay and last of college applications, all their days of sitting in class trying their best to learn as other students are enjoying their 5 elective schedule,  all their stress to be in the top of their class with A’s or B’s as others are contented with C’s or even D’s, all their hours of volunteering,  joining clubs, and helping others… and they see their reward for everything they did over their years to strive to be the best they can be.  And for those who don’t want to be the best student and want to be an artist, and writer, and musician; why practice music or drawing for hours, why write, why work? For all their lives, there is always a doubt of “Why am I doing so much when I can just do the bare minimum? Why put myself through all this?” and it is in the end when they see their efforts turned into rewards.  

Every year, around the middle of second semester, my calculus and geo/trig teacher makes her class write our goals and aspirations on an arrow-shaped sticky note and puts them all in the wall east of the classroom to remind us of our purpose for working as we do.   Although we may feel like quitting and feeling like there’s no point of our efforts, we must push through and stay strong for ourselves.  These are our dreams and goals; we must work to make them come true.

Feel the Music

My old violin teacher used to always tell me, “Just breathe and feel the music” and last night, those words resonated in my mind.  Last month, I stopped my violin lessons that I’ve had for almost 9 years.  Needless to say, I was not thrilled when my mom wanted me to quit; of course she had her reasons to make me quit, and she had the best intentions.  I was dejected for weeks after as I felt as though I had lost a part of me and my teacher of 4 years were almost as depressed as me if not more.

I have joined my local orchestra for 6 years now, and I served as concert mistress for 3 years until recently when I moved to the higher level orchestra. I decided to stay in orchestra so I don’t become completely musically illiterate, but the results were worse than I expected.  Since I quit, I tried to keep my skill level up to par as I have for the last 9 years, but I could feel my fingers harden.  For a few weeks I couldn’t hear the 3^rd octave A on my E string instantly.  I had problems playing fast separate-bowed 32^nd notes.  Slowly, my skills fell, and I could feel it slipping away -literally- from my fingers.  I increasingly grew frustrated and dejected, for music has never been a struggle for me and suddenly, I had problems on things I used to do in my sleep.  With each practice I felt as though I wanted to just give up and cry in the corner for being a failure.  

Now I may sound overly dramatic, but music had been my life since I was born.  Both my older brother and sister played violin and piano; and since I was allowed to play, I aspired to reach and surpass their level.  Music played a huge role in my life; it made me learn to be comfortable in front of a crowd or audience.  It made me realize I can never please everyone- only myself.  It made me confident in myself.  It helped me though all the tough times in my life, especially all my stress.  Then all of a sudden, music became another stress for me rather than a stress reliever.  For weeks, I felt out of place and I started to retrograde into being shy, uncertain in myself and my actions, and out of place.  What had made me unique was gone.  

So last night I had an orchestra concert which I was certain I would not do well because of all my mess ups during rehearsal.  I was worried that I would destroy the prefect sound the orchestra would make and it was nerve wracking.  I had never been so worried just to perform in an orchestra performance; solos yes, but never what used to be a simple orchestra performance.  It was such an unusual experience for me; I was not used to being rusty, not sitting in the primary two seats, having to worry about messing up on parts I previously could master, and so much more.  But as soon as I heard that fanfare introduction from the trumpets and trombones, I could feel all my fear and worry melt away and I remembered, “Just breathe and feel the music.”

At that moment, I realized just how silly all my worries were and how I was over-complicating things.  I could still feel the music.  It wasn’t as though all my 9 years of playing disappeared in a month.  I still had a joy for playing the violin.  Unexpectedly, last night’s concert was the best orchestra concert I had performed in so far in my life.  Music has played such an important part of my life that I will always remember, “Just breathe and feel the music.” 

Disclaimer: I know this is a bit long and there is more like a life story post than a strictly one event post, but this was the only way I could convey the affect of this event.