When Life Gives Lemons, I Guess…

Have you ever looked back at all the things you’ve attempted but immediately backed out of, simply because you weren’t good at it right from the beginning, or because your first couple of times trying it led to disastrously bad results?

Yeah, that seems to be the problem for a lot of people, me included.

I learned to drive, got my driver’s license, took my Dad’s car out for a drive, and then ended up accidentally scratching one side of the car on the gate because I miscalculated the gap. It wasn’t even a big damage or anything. Barely anything happened to the car, and I did pretty well as long as I drove on the street. But I gave up on driving after that one incident, and I haven’t touched my Dad’s car since. I haven’t even tried because I am scared I’ll end up making things worse.

But don’t be like me, that is an admittedly terrible example! Of course, these things are meant to be taken as life lessons, moving forward. Or sometimes, it’s just a reason for us to try harder to be better at the things we do. Things can’t all be impossible to achieve.

I know it, because if you asked me, say, six months ago how I was handling things, I would have given you the nastiest death-stare known to man. But now, I’d just tell you that finding balance came from a lot of trial and error. I didn’t exactly know how to go about work while also staying detached from it enough to find time for myself outside of it without making my work my entire personality (as a lot of people are wont to do). It’s safe to say I never want to be that person again.

But where I have found myself putting in more hours at work, I have also learned more than I ever hoped to learn about music marketing. 13-year-old me wanted to be a songwriter, or at least a lyricist at some point. While I am not anywhere remotely close to that job, I am somewhere in the field of music and that in itself makes me feel more accomplished than I had ever hoped to feel. Maybe someday, I will be able to make my 13-year-old self’s dream come true. But it’s the small steps we take towards realizing our dreams that matter the most.

You might not even realize it right now, but maybe you are still working towards your goals as we speak. You’re still making plans, making sure you know you’ve got options, researching ways to get there, gearing up. When life knocks us down, as I am sure most of us have felt at some point, we need to remind ourselves that we have made it this far, at least. If our dreams are somewhere around the corner, or maybe a long trek away, it’s important to remind ourselves whom we’re doing this for.

Don’t give up just yet. Take those lemons and make some lemonade out of it. We’re going to be okay. I know it.

Cheerio! Xx

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Featured Image by Lauren Mancke on Unsplash