Noting several posts with an 'I'm discouraged" theme here of late, in recent travels I stumbled upon this.
I urge those of you who are honest enough to self-identify as easily discouraged to watch it in the hope grounding with a reality check will ultimately guide [u]you[/u] to the realisation where the 'encouragment' you [u]need[/u] must come from for encouragement to be anything other than a figurative temporary emotional bandaid or superficial crutch.
No one escapes the need to practise, and this just to maintain the skill.
It's not easy. If it was, everyone would end up a virtuoso, and in no time at all.
The core message is,[u] it's up to you[/u]. No one else can do it for you. Wishing won't get you there. Money won't get you there. All the intelligence or natural talent in the world won't get you there without .....[u]putting in the work[/u]. Disciplined application, persistence and determination are the keys.
To fuel them, ask yourself this - and answer yourself honestly because no one else is actually listening, or, another 'harsh' reality check -even cares. So answering otherwise than with a deep down gut instinctive honesty, the only one you are cheating is yourself.
How much do you REALLY want to play guitar? Do you truly really [u]enjoy[/u] playing the instrument, all of it including the challenges, frustrations, the learning and light bulb moments? Or are you just caught up in the romantic notion and imagery of it all?
[br]The first will carry you through the rough patches and plateaus without a damaged self image or distorted negative perspective in place of mere awareness of the temporary obstacle. The other, you're carrying the load, and it'll get intolerably burdomsome pretty quick as some of you have already iterated.
I can think of all manner of pursuits where a person needs to be deeply motivated from the inside -for whatever reason it is for them, to want to pursue a challenging activity to the point they will persist regardless of how tough the going gets. In truth, in those kind of pursuits, which include guitar, IMLE [u]you're[/u] the only person who can do that for [u]you[/u].
I'll close with a short analogy. In my career as an aviation professional starting out as a self-funded self-starter flying gliders as a lad aged 16 through to its close as an airline Captain (retired) having traversed pretty much every hill, valley and figurative rocky crag in the elongated path of that journey, if I had a dollar for every person in my life who has said to me at one time or another, "I wish I [u]could have[/u] been a (air) pilot, .....but (insert self-rationalising excuse here)" why [u]they chose[/u] to disappoint themselves, I'd be a literal millionaire. Those with a precluding impairment excepted, my answer is and has always been the same. "[u]Wishing[/u] won't get you there".
