I must admit that I was pretty skeptical when that was said, and I remember thinking to myself, "no way is that true."
Let me tell you....it´s true. It might not be an absolute truth, but it´s pretty darn close after I was reflecting on it.
I found that I get things done, on time, almost always. But what really has been interesting to reflect on is how I end up getting things done. I´ve found that I normally wait until it´s almost too late to get it started, and then start. Some would call that procrastination, but I think it´s a little bit different than procrastination. I usually wait a while to get things started, projects, putting ideas into motion etc, to wait to see if something better will happen or come along. And then when I realize that it probably isn´t going to happen, I start working. When I then accomplish whatever task was at hand, I end up realizing that it was the best that could have happened, and (sometimes) vow to be more proactive the next time around.
Would you like some examples????
Ok, I have a couple, and will be happy to share them, and what I´ve learned from the experiences.
Example 1: Running a half marathon
Tania had mentioned months, maybe 6 or more, before the actual race that she was interested in doing it and I thought it would be a good motivator for me. A couple months later she told me the date, May 15th. This was probably around January/February, more than enough time to train properly. I didn´t start training until I registered about a month and a half, give or take a couple of weeks, before the actual race. Did I survive? Yes I did. Did I run in an ok time? Yes, 2hrs,4min. Could I have trained better and done even better or not struggled so much? Absolutely. Did my knees want to kill me the week after the race? Yes, very much so.
What did I learn from this experience: Now that I know I can do it, I´ll know that I´ll have to train harder for the next race, whenever that is.
Example 2: Blog posts
What can I really say about this example? I do think about posting much more often, but I don´t really enjoy sitting in front of a computer typing out what is happening in my life. It makes me feel weird still. So....sorry, the posts will probably never be spaced much closer together than they currently are.
Example 3: Music Classes
Am I taking music classes, you might ask? Acutally yes, I started some (not so great) guitar classes, but that´s not what I´m referring to.
I have started teaching music classes to some of the oldest boys here in Ciudad. It’s nothing extremely fancy, and I don’t really know what I’m doing. It’s a make it up as I go along sort of situation. We’ll be working on learning to read music and singing technique.
I had this idea probably within the first month of getting to Ciudad, and 8 months later it is reality. Part of the reason for waiting was to wait, be patient, and adjust to the life and culture of Ciudad before jumping in and pushing what I thought was needed and wanted before I actually knew it was needed or wanted. The other part of the reason for waiting until now was because I was scared. If I’m going to be honest it still scares me, I know how to teach swimming, I do not know how to teach music, much less how to teach it in Spanish….so….thankfully the boys are pretty relaxed about it. Another reason was logistics, and not really being able to control anything and fighting the loss of control once again…imagine that!
What I’ve learned from this experience: 1. Peruvians are very, very good at rhythms, especially hearing them and then repeating. The boys are scary good at that. 2. I still don’t know how to teach the boys how to sing in their own octave. They are pretty good at matching the notes I sing (as low as I can go), but then they keep following me and matching my pitch, even the high ones. It makes me laugh, but they really do not grasp yet the concept of singing in their own octave. It’s going to be a challenge with only a 5 octave keyboard to teach them that….I’ll let you know how that goes. 3. I should have tried to start this sooner...the way I do one thing is the way I do everything...I gave the boys some questions to respond to on during the first class; one of them being, ‘why do you want to take music classes?’ A lot of the responses completely surprised me and once again I was completely astounded by the boys here. Here are some of my favorite responses (loosely translated):
- ‘it is what I love he most, I would like to create music and be able to infuse it with feeling, passion and love. In addition to make music a part of me so it’s like my best friend. I love music, it’s what keeps me alive.’
- ‘I want to learn because for me it is necessary because it is my love, what I love, I love music, I live it and I feel it.’
4. I need prayers. I am not going to be able to teach this class by myself, I’m going to need a lot of support from above to be able to give the boys all they want and deserve to learn. It’s a little daunting teaching about 20 teenage boys to sing…
I’ve been thinking about you all a lot and praying for you. I miss you all! Much love and hugs to everybody.
Con cariño,
Jeanette
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