Over the weekend, I began to learn how to play the piano.
Now this wasn’t on my agenda at all. My main agenda was to enjoy spending time with my parents at their stunning new vacation home on the Southern coast of Maine. I was looking forward to writing the introduction to the book Significant Women: Leaders Reveal What Matters Most (launching April 16) and my chapter for the book The Younger Self Letters. A couple beach runs, maybe some college basketball. That was all I had planned.
But then I saw the piano on the second floor overlooking the spacious downstairs. It – like most of the furniture – was included in the sale of the home. It’s a player piano, one that you hit a button and it plays your favorite songs. My dad said “it’s broken. Maybe you can get it to work.”
Thank God it was broken.
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Had it not been, I never would’ve been inspired to sit down and try to play.
I opened up YouTube and searched for beginning piano lessons.
Ten minutes later I was cycling through my C, G, A, and F chords in unison.
I felt giddy. How fun to learn something new!
I downloaded an app and learned the main chords that make up most pop songs. A stripped down version of Bohemian Rhapsody was my first song! I practiced for hours over the weekend.
My hands ached. I got worse before I got a bit better. And I was reminded of two powerful lessons.
We can cast a grand vision such as – “I would like to play Speechless by Lady Gaga on the piano”. However, we must take incremental steps to get there. The vision inspires us. The daily work – focused in the right direction – gets us there.
And second – sometimes, we need to change our scenery. Sometimes we need to shift our perspective. Sometimes we need to experience serendipity. If you’re feeling stuck – change your scenery and you change what is possible for you.
Hit reply and let me know something new that you’ve begun recently! I’d love to know.
Here’s to trying new things!
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