I have a disease, it’s called” I never finish anything unless it has a deadline and someone will review it” syndrome.
Maybe that’s why I always have a million ideas for passion projects and side jobs that I never finish. I start working on lots of them, but halfway through I drop it. I get caught up in my busy work and social life that I drop whatever I am doing. Except for my work of course because my boss will always give me deadlines and he will always review my presentations.
6 years ago I decided to learn piano, I have always been a huge fan for classical and piano music. I enjoy it deeply and always had this fantasy of playing piano like professional pianists. So I enrolled in an academic program at a musical college. Regardless of what happens, there was always a piano recital every 3 months. That was heaven for me, I have a deadline and my teacher reviews my progress every week, so I had no option but to practice every day.
I noticed how much playing the piano gives me that beautiful sense of flow. I lose track of time when I am playing or learning to play. I am totally there in the moment, nothing else on my mind. I can sit for 2 hours straight without even noticing. I think this is how each and everyone feels when it comes to creating something, anything. It’s the power of creation, it requires your full attention. And through the quarantine, playing piano became my meditation.
Although in quarantine,my disease came back as I have no deadline nor someone to review my progress. I decided to change my perspective to view the whole activity as a meditative technique, not a passion project or something to achieve. I started practicing the piano as part of my night routine, not aiming to sharpen my skills or to learn new tough pieces. I have absolutely no expectations form me practicing piano, I expect no one to witness my progress and I don’t care. I only play piano now to unwind and enjoy a peaceful hour or two before I go to sleep and I plan to do so with every passion project I had in mind and didn’t have the right mindset to tackle it.
It really is all in the mind!