I'm so glad you found me. Sign up below to make sure One Thought Thursdays always land in your inbox!
Share
If Only You Knew.... (One Thought Thursday 045)
Published 15 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
β
β
β
β
β
β
Let's be honest. Waiting is hard.
...and not knowing HOW LONG you'll be waiting is the worst part. Right?
We never know how long it's going to take our students to master the new concept, learn their next piece, or (for those of you who are into it) pick their weekly sticker.
β
Titanic humor in honor of Episode 165, where I shared my fated high-school arrangement of My Heart Will Go On. Don't miss it. π
But seriously -
Wouldn't situations be a million times easier if you KNEW how long you needed to bide your time?
Storytime:
As of last week, my youngest daughter (7) didn't know how to ride a bike without training wheels.
That's "late" according to plenty of parents and I had all kinds of MomGuilt going on about it.
Honestly, she's always loved zooming around on her inline scooter and we never made the bike a priority.
WELL. Last week, we all decided it was time.
Evening #1: she was making progress but was far from independent.
The next afternoon: She had everything figured out EXCEPT the all-important balance component.
After only a few minutes, I found myself anxiously searching up balance bikes on my local resale site, found one, and had initiated contact with the seller.
In other words, I'd gotten panicky, thinking I needed another solution.
Wouldn't you know... less than 10 minutes later, my girl was riding her bike flawlessly up and down our street.
β β(which left me having to contact the seller of the balance bike and say, "NEVER MIND!") π
I just had to laugh at myself.
HOW MANY TIMES do we get antsy, thinking a particular season is going to last forever, when, in hindsight, it wraps up in the blink of an eye?
How often do we start grasping for alternative methods when our students really just need a little more time?
Do you ever find yourself jumping to conclusions like, "I must be teaching this incorrectly"... or, "Something is wrong here"....
May my MomGuilt-ridden bike story be your reminder that some things just take time.
(And, sometimes, that amount of time is laughably SHORT once you really think about it. My girl mastered her bike in less than 24 hours. I seriously had no grounds for getting anxious).
Sometimes we just need to take a deep breath and let time do its thing.
Additional TeacherTakeaways demonstrated in this story:
Sometimes, being older pays off. Don't be misled by age.
Big tasks are much easier to accomplish when you set the right foundation. Those inline scooters require quite a bit of balance, too. Both my girls rode those first, and, consequently, learned to ride their bikes quite quickly.
β I hope this story serves as an important reminder that we just never know when an uncomfortable season is going to end. If you have thoughts to share, hit that REPLY button and tell me! π
β
π₯Cheers to setting solid foundations, and letting TIME take care of the rest, friends. π₯
Tomorrow (04.26), at 11am, teachers from a little bit of everywhere will gather and chat about all things TeacherLife, including specific approaches to teaching supplemental repertoire.
Can't make it live? Replays from ALL sessions of TTT are available to $6 members.
*This email may contain affiliate links. That's just smart business, but please know all recommendations are purely my own, and are absent of any icky ulterior sales motives.
"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard My sentimental self is having all the end-of-school-year feelings, and I'm starting to understand why I feel as though I've been crawling for the finish line. Friends, it's been a year. As I was recording Episode 167 this week, it dawned on me how many "firsts" I've had during the 2023-2024 academic year. It took me almost 29 years, but here are a few noteworthy initiations I've had this year (from silly...
In Episode 166 this week, I asked the question: How do YOU want people to respond when you tell them about one of your favorite things? For me, I can't stop thinking about how people react when they find out I have a podcast. This is a body of work I am proud of, and I'm confident it's impacting the profession I love so much. Needless to say, I'm a bit enthusiastic about it (on the inside, anyway). Truth be told, most of the people in my everyday circles struggle to understand what a podcast...
What if you're exactly where you should be? As musicians, our brains are wired for improvement. Our lives revolve around the notion of doing better, being better, and helping others do the same. (#teacherproblems) We are conditioned to scrutinize progress made through 30/45/60-minute lessons lessons, 7-day practice weeks, and annual performance events. ...and that's just in our WORK. Have you ever stopped to think HOW MUCH of our lives are devoted to the art of "getting better"? It's...