Small Accomplishments

My recent guitar practice has been somewhat frustrating. Having a musical background allowed me to speed through a lot of beginner stuff, but I've hit a wall and have had to slow down to what is probably a more normal pace. Imagine my dismay when I decided to move forward another page and saw F chord looking back at me! I was dreading the day when I would have to learn F. It requires that you hold two strings down with one finger, which is much harder to do than it might sound. So, instead of getting to learn any new songs (because I couldn't play the new songs until I could play F chord), I ended my practices for days contorting my poor fingers and squeezing the neck of the guitar until it hurt (my hand hurt, I haven't gotten any complaints from the guitar). And then yesterday I did it! I didn't play F chord in a song. But I did play it by itself. Progress.

Then, this morning while I was doing yoga I successfully held the arm balance I learned when I was in a yoga class during library school (to be fair, it doesn't look quite like that when I do it). I attempt it every time I do yoga and usually just waver into the pose and then come right back out of it again. But this morning I held it for five breaths. And I really felt balanced.

It can be hard to do the same thing day after day and keep getting it wrong. But the day you get it right it's all worth it!