I’ve heard a lot of questions in my life. Some have been interesting. Some have been angering. And then some have just left me scratching my head.
A Pick of Questions
When people hear about some of the things I do, I get a lot of questions. Why do I read so many books? How have I been able to speak at so many places? Don’t I find public speaking scary? How do I find time to do all the things I do? But there is one particular question that just baffles me, and it’s about my guitar.
When I was 39 I decided to pick up the guitar. At first I made a half-hearted attempt. Then I started dedicating a certain amount of time to it most days. Eventually I made sure I averaged at least 30 minutes a day each month. For more than a year now, I’ve played 35 minutes or more every single day.
It’s helped me gain a great deal of skill and learn a lot of songs – songs I enjoyed as a teenager and beyond. Knowing that I can play the songs that speak to me really puts a smile on my face.
Why?
Yet I have had a few people perplexed by this. I have heard one question probably more than any other question. This is a question posed by people that have never heard me play guitar, but have heard that I do play and that I make sure I practice every day. And it’s a simple, three letter question: why?
The first time I heard it I was perplexed. The second time, I was still shocked. I think I’ve grown more accustom to the question being asked now, but not the reasoning. To me, the question is one of the most puzzling questions I’ve heard.
The thought is simple – I guess: since I don’t play in a band, or church, or anywhere else, why waste my time playing? Who would I be playing for?
Of course, my thinking to any of that is that I don’t know where my life might go, I might do some or all of that (and I have – to a small degree). There are all kinds of possibilities in front of me.
The Puzzling Part
The bigger question I have is this: why not!? It’s my life. I want to play the guitar. Why do I need any other reason than that? If I just want to enjoy the instrument, or learn something new, or prepare for a bigger possible future, what does it matter? One day I woke up and thought it would be nice to play the guitar, so I started doing it.
So this simple three letter question leaves me with questions of my own. Why can’t we all just do that? Why can’t we all just look at the things we want to be doing and do them? Why can’t we simply work toward becoming who we would love to see ourselves as? Why is that a crazy picture to see?
We all have the ability to make our lives amazing. There’s so much we can do to become who we really want to be.
Which brings me two two questions of my own. They are two simple questions I would like to ask of you: who do you want to be, and what’s stopping you?
