hey guys, not sure if Im allowed to post this here, probably should be in a blog , and if so feel free to move it or have me move it to the right place. Just wanted to share this article I wrote on LinkedIn for those of you who dont have it, and if you do, feel free to comment on it in LinkedIn.
Its hard for me to believe that I have been playing the violin now for 13 years, its something that I never thought I would stick with when I started, it required more discipline than most people think, there were so many times where I wanted to quit and say I was done with it, but I stuck with it because at the end of the day; music is what I love , and its what I am passionate about.
the question of doing what you love vs doing what makes you the most money has been a topic that comes up quite often with my friends and I during our various discussions and I imagine it happens with many other people as well. I to this day find it so stunning that a child is asked at 16 years old "what do you want to do for the rest of your life" when in reality his or her life hasn't even really begun.
When I was 13 years old I told my mother that I wanted to play the violin for the rest of my life as my career and she looked at me and said "do something that is going to pay the bills" that was her way of saying "absolutely not". If my mother said no then I took that in my head as "Maybe I shouldn't do that then, my family is made up of people in the medical field, maybe I should do that!" I thought "I'm gonna make a lot of money and be successful".
I should never have doubted my passion or talent for the violin, instead I let what my mother said to me stick with me and when the time came for me to go to college I chose Pre-medicine; I had no idea what i was getting myself into.
My first semester of college was the worst experience of my life; I was failing almost every class, I didn't like the school I was going to, I had no friends, and I basically was only happy when I was listening to music or practicing my violin in my room when I wasnt busy burying my head in a chemistry or biology book.
I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and that if you are not on the path you are suppose to be on that God has a way of reaching out to you and telling you so.
I was sitting in my room, it was around December 15th or so and I was watching some videos by one of my favorite Youtubers "The Piano Guys" and they did this video for Christmas that was on the Mormon Channel Youtube account, and it was O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
I loved that song ever since I was a small child and I of course wanted to see what The Piano Guys version of it would sound like. As someone who is musically inclined I have such a strong bond with music and feel the emotion of every song i listen to, and when I heard this song, I felt as if the wind was knocked out of me, i put my hand on my heart and was overcome with emotion when i heard the song to the point where I began to have tears in my eyes, that night I changed my outlook on my situation and told myself i was going to switch to music as my career instead of Pre-medicine.
Ever since that fateful night when I saw that video I have been the happiest I have ever been in my life, and I have been blessed to have so many amazing musical experiences from opening for the band Gaelic Storm, to playing with The Piano Guys on stage. Currently I am going to school at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah for two degrees in Commercial Music, one in Media composition and the other in Music technology.
I firmly believe that you should follow your heart in life as much as possible and that includes when it comes to your career, had I not listen to my heart and follow my dreams I would not be the man I am today, nor having the success I am currently. We only have one life and it should be lived to the fullest with no regrets, don't let anyone tell you that you are not good enough for something, you wont know how things will end up unless you try it yourself. Be true to yourself and you will find success, it might not be big at first, but its the smallest of successes that lead us down a path to the journey of a lifetime.
in the words of Alan Watts, "Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing, then a long life spent in a miserable way"
In fact if you have time watch this video, Devin Graham AKA Devin Supertramp shared this video and I loved it so much, it really puts things in perspective: What If money were no object- Narrated by Alan Watts