There's one thing that all my piano teachers have consistently told me to do. I've been playing the piano since, I don't know, third grade, maybe second grade. And they've always said to pick it up when you make a mistake. Never, ever stop when you make a mistake.
Because the thing with the piano piece a lot of the time is that the best players aren't people that can play flawlessly. And I mean that. They're the people that can just make a mistake and make it sound beautiful. Or make a mistake and not have anyone notice that there was a mistake.
Those to me are the best players. And I've had something happen recently where I thought back on a mistake I've made. Not in piano but just in general. To me it was a mistake.
And I've realized that I hadn't forgiven myself for making it. And it just hit me that the what my teachers have told me, piano teachers have told me about never stopping after a mistake. Really just applies to life in general. Because if you play, if you're playing the piano, there are going to be two types of people that listen to you.
There's going to be the people that know how to play. That can probably pick up the mistake but still be impressed by the fact you picked up and just kept going. And there's going to be people who don't play the piano and have no idea what. That there was even anything in the first place.
That's if you keep playing. If you stop, people that played the piano are going to notice that there was a mistake. And people who don't play the piano are going to figure out that there was a mistake. And what happens if I don't forget myself for mistakes that I make in life, is that people who really know me are, I'm going to pause it for a second to kind of get my thoughts back together.
So if you make a mistake and just keep going and try your best not to let it ruin your life. The people that know you and know what you've gone through are going to know that you've made a mistake. But because maybe you told them, but they're going to watch you just work through it into your best. To not let it define you.
And the people who don't necessarily know you who see you just casually are not even going to know you made a mistake. But if you let that mistake consume you, and if you let it eat up your mental state, and if you let it guide your body language, then the people who know what you've been through your friends are going to know you made a mistake and they're going to see that you're not letting it define you. And the people who don't know you, maybe won't know that there was a mistake, but they might feel it and they're definitely going to see it in the way you bring yourself in the way you act in the world. So basically what I'm saying is don't let mistakes define you.
And that's very cliché. But why I'm recording this is because I realize that it applies both to small errors, like a mistake on the piano piece, and two bigger ones. And that the real meaning behind it is that don't make mistakes define you. Because otherwise you become whatever you think that mistake has made you become, even though that mistake exists outside of anything, anything else.
So the mistake is independent. But if you let a mistake define you, then anyone who sees you doesn't have to know your mistake to see how it's affecting you. And to be your best self, why you can't let mistakes define you is because when you do that, you're not yourself. You become whatever negative connotation you link with the mistake, and anyone would be able to see that.
Alright, thanks for listening to my therapy. I'm Robin. Have a great day.