Day Five of Forever

Hello!

So here is an update of how I am fairing on this challenge - five days in.

To give you a clue to the general tone of this post... I feel like a super happy octopus.

Exercise and Meditation

So far this is going swimmingly! Granted I am not doing as intense exercise as I did in my original exercise challenge - but I think my strengthening and stretching routine is exactly what my body needs right now and it fits into half an hour which at the moment is all I can afford. Meditation is going great :) I no longer have to set myself a timer - I generally come to a finish by myself at about twenty five minutes. It's been a little while since I did it this regularly, and I have to say it is a discipline worth doing daily. I really find my mind clearing and strengthening more and more each day, and reaching new levels every time.

Violin Practice and Juggling Practice

So I have been alternating between Juggling and Violin each night (although I did both today!) and I actually think that this way is better than when I was practicing daily. I apply this more to violin than juggling, I could juggle any time and be happy doing it, but with Violin its really nice to just do it every other day - it's a more pleasurable experience. I've been doing between forty five minutes and an hour each time, which is more than I did during the challenge, and I think that's simply because I'm enjoying it more. And because I'm enjoying it more I'm doing better quality practice and therefore improving :) big yay.

Poetry Writing and Reading 

I was hoping to be jotting down some ideas for poems every day. So far I haven't quite managed to do that, so I need to pay a little more attention to that area. Same with reading, I just need to find more opportunities to do it!

Keeping a Journal

This is an interesting one. I like to do this last thing at night, but writing a journal is a pretty private experience that one should take ones time with, and if my boyfriend is staying over I'm less inclined to do it. I thought about it, and I've decided that's ok, as long as I keep it up regularly enough.


Overall, I'm feeling really positive and happy and so in control of my own life! I'm getting so much done (hence why I feel like a super happy octopus) and it's just so great to feel like I'm using my time in a valuable way instead of letting each day slip by.

Tonight, I'm going to have a little writing session and get my poem of the week off its feet! And add that to my list of awesome things I have done this week.

I'll post another update soon, until then, taraar!!

Finding the Middle Ground between Discipline and Fun

Hello lovely readers of mine!

Well I am nearing the end of this challenge of practicing violin every day for thirty days. I haven't really blogged about it, because if I'm honest I didn't have very much to say. Basically: I practiced every day that I could (unfortunately there were days when I was only in at times that were not appropriate for violin playing!) I was getting slightly better, and I was enjoying it.

In fact, I've been really, really, really enjoying it.

Even though I'm still pretty terrible.

In my last blog post I talked about getting over the fear of being terrible. My advice to myself and anyone else trying to develop a skill was to 'chuck it in the fuck it bucket and move on' - and that's exactly what I did. I played terribly to my hearts content and, sure enough, as each day went by I began to care less and less about what others thought of my playing. And I got a little bit better. And, most importantly, I started to really have fun.

And here is something I've realized. Practice should be fun. One of the great things about getting better at a skill is the very fact that, as you get better, you begin to take a lot more pleasure in doing it. And for that reason, taking the time to do some of the more tedious parts of practicing (like scales, for example) is very much worth it. It feels boring at the time, but ensures more fun in the long run.

However.

I also think it's important to make practice more fun for yourself by doing things your own way. EVEN if this means you slow down your own improvement. For example - there have been times when the sensible thing for me to do would to play the piece really slowly, really concentrating on my weak points and focusing on my technique until I got it perfect. But instead, I played the piece at my pace (which is almost always too fast) messing up many notes along the way, sounding pretty bad for most of it but then always playing the last bar with a dramatic flourish. Then I'd do it again. Four or five times. At this point, it was most likely that I would have improved a little bit on the piece just by bashing it out, but it would be far from perfect. Still, I'd just move onto the next one and do pretty much the same thing. All the while enjoying myself immensely.

Is this the most efficient way to improve on a skill? Absolutely not. But ultimately, practice needs to be enjoyable, or one simply won't want to do it. So even though I know that I could have come a lot further with my violin by now if I had really disciplined myself - I don't really mind, because I've been having a lot of fun. And ultimately I am progressing, just a little slower than I could be.

I like to imagine that Einstein had it right when it came to balancing discipline with fun. And his quote here is a reminder to me that playing music should always be joyful.

So, the conclusion that I have drawn is that if you want to improve on a skill and also enjoy doing it, then you have to find that middle ground. You need to discipline yourself so that in the long run you will be able to get better and therefore enjoy yourself more. But you also need to make every practice fun so that you will want to do it again the next day. At the moment, I think I am indulging slightly more in the fun than the discipline, but I'm happy to work on that, and try and balance it out a bit more.

Most of all, I'm just really happy that I have yet another hobby in my life. Another challenge that has made the time I spend on this earth just that little more valuable.

Because I started late, I do have a few days left on this challenge before it is officially over. However I want to keep to my schedule, and so I will be announcing my new challenge, which I'm really excited about, tomorrow. So look out for that!

In the meantime - keep striving and keep smiling.