I read a great article last week about people who play chess. The article was mainly about the differences between grand masters and people who are only exceptionally good, and the differences in how the two groups of people look at a chess board. Very interesting, but what woke me up was the statement that the grand masters, in general, got to be as good as they are by continuing to challenge themselves with problems slightly beyond their capabilities. People who are only pretty good at something, on the other hand, often achieve proficiency and then stop forcing themselves to learn.
Saturday night, I went to watch Robyn’s rehearsal for The Messiah (since I’ll be out of town for the performance itself). When I closed my eyes, I could hear all four voices in the music and follow the themes. I was the only person in the audience, which made me feel quite lucky.
I was really inspired to see 100+ people who are all talented singers making such a big effort outside their daily responsibilities and commitments to learn a piece of music. It was really positive for me to be reminded that it is in fact possible to push yourself to master something even though there are a thousand other things you have to do to pay the bills.
I can almost feel a New Year’s resolution coming over me.  ¶ 11:30 PM