When I was 4 years old I attended a piano recital where two of my very talented aunts performed. I was enamored and came home excited to try my hand at tickling the ivories. After sitting at the piano enthusiastically playing my own composition, moving my hands in the very same way they had...I thought... my brother rudely requested that I quit “pounding” on the piano. Pounding? I think he meant performing. In my little head, I was playing music just as beautiful as theirs because my hands were doing the exact same thing. Little did I know the decades of hard work ahead of me before I could become the caliber of pianist my aunts were.
I often hear people say to someone who is very talented in sports or music or art, “You are so gifted!” or my favorite, “You are so lucky!” I made such a comment to a friend in high school one day. I was so impressed with her flawlessly artistic handwriting. “You’re so lucky your printing is so beautiful,” I naively said giving what I thought was a compliment. To my surprise she was not appreciative of my remark in the least. She looked me in the eye and said, “I’m not lucky, it’s something I decided was important to me and I worked very hard on it for a long time!” What a lesson she taught me. I think it is easy to forget that most people work very hard for most successes. If we think everything we do comes out superior... or not... depending on our “natural talents” we will likely not find ourselves having much success at anything.
I have always dreamt of being able to create things that are truly original and amazing. There is something magical to me about creating my own kind of beautiful rather than only learning to play a song someone else wrote, though I find great satisfaction in doing that as well. I dream of one day having a book published or finishing a musical composition that is original and beautiful or learning to paint unique and inspiring watercolors. However, I have realized over the last few years that I have never really put in the time to become an author, composer, or painter. I have written some great beginnings of songs, only to never make it past the first line or 2, have started at least 2 books that I haven’t worked on for ages, and haven’t taken one art class since high school. Until I am willing to pour some real time and effort into one of these aspirations, I can’t be frustrated and blame my inabilities on lack of ‘natural talent.’
I’m in a pretty busy stage of life as a mother right now, doing my best to create and raise 5 1/2 amazing children, and I’m thankful to be able to put most all of my efforts into that mission for now. This doesn’t leave me with long chunks of uninterrupted time to pursue some of my other goals, but I am not ready to let my dreams go yet. So, I guess I have some work to do before I get “lucky” enough to BECOME that creative genius I have been wishing for.
