Practice...class...practice...lunch...practice...etc.

I wish I could report a more exciting day, but that's pretty much it. I stuffed 3 hours of practicing in pretty much every gap in my schedule. I did have fun this afternoon playing tennis with James, Ana, and Nicole :D Look at that, the pasty music major is getting outside!

Today I learned something new, though. I can never ever be satisfied with what I do in the practice room. I really needed that reminder that even after doing three hours of practicing, I still have tons of room for improvement. I just can't be satisfied with only putting in an hour or two because I'm not going to get anywhere. And you know the best part about spending hours in the practice room? (No, it's not the feeling of sweating off half of my body mass) I'm so busy focusing on what I need to do, I don't have the time or energy to wander around comparing myself to others. It's the weirdest thing, but the amount of practice time I put in is directly proportional to how bad I feel about myself compared to others.

--I'm going to interject and note that yes, it's really inappropriate to compare. It's a terribly bad habit, and I'm definitely going to work harder on not doing it. --

As I was saying, the more time I spend in the practice rooms working to make myself a better musician, the less I really care about how others are doing. I think a lot of it has to do with guilt. When I'm not putting in the practice time like I should be, I feel guilty, and then have to justify myself by walking around telling myself how much better I am than others, when that's really A) useless and B) crap. It's a much better feeling when I've done what I need to do, and know that I'm on the right track. I CAN do this, and I'm going to.

Also, I'm happy to say that because my practicing is done, I can sit back, relax and knit until my lesson at 9. What a lovely Monday!

Allie