Dreams vs Goals

Many of you know that I played the piano growing up. I LOVED it! It was always my dream to play in Carnegie Hall with my family sitting in the front row. Now, many years later, that dream was just that. A dream.

A little background.

My mom said that when I was little I would always be playing on the piano. Unfortunately, the teacher my sister was seeing only took students when you turned 8. So. I waited. After taking piano lessons from her for a few years (I think), my grandpa took me to a lady in his ward that taught piano lessons when I was in 6th grade. She currently wasn't taking any students, but after playing that piano for her as kind of an audition, she was able to squeeze me in. I can't remember how many years I ended up taking piano lessons from Tina, but I learned as much as I possibly could. And I loved every minute of it. I have so many songs ingrained in my memory thanks to her. After learning everything she could teach me, I moved onto a different teacher. And I learned even more. It took me around 6 months to learn two pages of the song below, which amounts to a measly 45 seconds. Granted, I was never able to play it this fast. And probably never will. After taking lessons from him for a few months, we took a break for the summer. Upon return, my parents decided to take me to a college professor that a friend recommended. I only went to her for a few months because I was still in high school and the demand was too much for me to handle. I mean come on, how am I supposed to have a social life in high school when I am expected to play the piano for at least 5-6 hours a day?? (Total wish I could have changed my mentality there...) Yeah, so that didn't last very long. Unfortunately, after leaving her, I didn't go back to any teacher. I just. Stopped. 

My dream that I wanted so badly to come true ended. If you were to ask me to play any of the songs that I learned so many years ago at the level I was able to play them at, I'd laugh and then go cry quietly to myself in my closet.

I think the kicker in this story is that my grandparents paid for most of my piano lessons. And what do I have to show for it? A lousy version of Claire de Lune and Mary Had a Little Lamb. (I don't think I'll ever let myself go for letting them down.)

Moral of the story. If you have a dream, make it a reality. Make it a goal. And don't ever give up. Because if you stop, you're going to wake up 10 years later and think "What have I done?" It's not worth it to give up on something you love so dearly. 

So dig your feet in a little harder and show the world that you can. And that you will.