I feel a bit silly creating this thread but I am going to go ahead and do it anyway.
Backstory is, as a child I learned to play the piano. I never worked hard but got to a decent standard. Sight reading music was another story though; you see, that takes practice, which is something I scarcely did.
Week after week I'd be shouted at by my incredible strict piano teacher for the fact I didn't practice. She nagged & moaned at me like there was no tomorrow.
I stopped lessons aged 15 and gradually as the years passed, I really came to regret not working harder. I moved overseas with my (Forces) husband and I always wished I could one day take up lessons again but with frequent house moves and not much disposable cash, getting a piano wasn't an option let alone paying for lessons.
Anyway, aged 29, I bought a second hand electric piano and I finally started lessons again. Initially with a local teacher who was awful. My old piano teacher from my home town found out I had taken up piano again and contacted me. She's retired, in her 70s or early 80s. I told her about my hopeless teacher and she told me she'd rather teach me over the phone/ Skype than have me pay this man. She said the only payment she would need would be to see my succeed and that she wouldn't accept any money.
Fast forward a year and life juggling two small children and keeping on top of things when DH is often deployed for long spells is testing and exhausting. It would be so easy to not be able to find the time to practice and I truly am someone who has quit and dropped out of many things but there is one thing that gets me off the sofa and onto the piano after a long tiring day and that's the fact that, if I don't, I'm only cheating myself. It'll be me who will once again look back and regret not trying, regret not putting in the effort. After a year of hard work I am now really seeing huge improvements and seeing that if I continue to be diligent with this, I can really fulfil my potential.
I just wanted to post this because, all to often in life, (especially mums with young children) we become so embroiled in all of our responsibilities. We have goals but it is just so difficult to see them through. I just hoped that maybe reading this would inspire someone and hopefully give them that belief that even with life being hectic & chaotic. Even with the exhaustion of everyday parenting and everything that entails, it is still possible to accomplish your goals.
Yes, this goal may seem small or insignificant to some but it's huge to me. Not only am I accomplishing an ambition of mine but I'm also teaching my children that learning is a lifelong journey. What a great lesson for them to learn.
It's never to late 