The first time I saw an acoustic guitar within 10 feet from myself was when I was in the University of Benin, Nigeria. That moment was very remarkable. I just stood there speechless as the young man stroked the strings with such dexterity. I fell in love. Errhmmm… Let me make it very clear. I fell for the guitar and not the man.

I bought a guitar the next month with the money I was supposed to use for my final year project. My roommate hated me for buying that guitar because at that time we did not have food in the hostel. We somehow managed to survive.

I started learning to play. It was the hardest thing I ever did. I remember the pains that I felt as the strings pressed into my fingers, but I was determined.

One of the most remarkable moments for me was when I finally perfected the C chord. I celebrated because it was such a major breakthrough.

Smiling with my guitar buddy

I had to surmount a lot of obstacles as I continued my musical journey. I had no musical talent in my ears. It was impossible (not hard) for me to recognise keys and hear notes correctly. I had to learn the very basics. I started from level zero.

Things got easier as I progressed. I can classify myself as an intermediate guitarist now. I do not want to go through that learning experience again. It was too hard. However, I learnt a lot of valuable life lessons from my desperation to be a musician. It is true that what you become in your journey to achieving your goal is even more important than the goal itself.

• I learnt that starting out could be very difficult especially if you do not have a mentor to guide you. I didn't have any offline teacher so I had to teach myself. I got some courses online practised on my own. I had to invent ways to motivate myself. I learned to make research and source for materials online. These are invaluable skills.

• I learned that sucking is part of the process. The truth is that if you have not sucked at anything then perhaps you are not stretching yourself hard enough. If you are not ready to suck for a while then you will find it hard to learn something new.

• I learnt to set goals. This is very important as it enables you to keep track of your success. It points you towards a direction. Whenever you accomplish your goal you have this sense of fulfilment and when you don't accomplish your goal you are stirred to work harder.

• I learnt to be resilient. They were times that I just felt like I should give up and bury my guitar but I somehow found the drive to bounce back. Maybe it was my love for music or my utter hatred for failing and not hitting my target. I always bounced back.

Sometimes we ought to put ourselves in situations that demands a lot of from us. That stretches us beyond our limits. The benefits will not only be achieved in learning the new skill or accomplishments but we also learn to transfer that skills we learn in the process to other areas of our lives.

I don't play the guitar like I used to but I still find time to sing in the choir.

These days I have too much to worry about. I want to make a lot of money so that I can afford a vacation in Dubai (just kidding). But those virtue I got from being a rookie guitarist are forever with me. I used the same principles to used to learn the guitar in learning anything new. I applied the principle when I was learning to play chess and I applied the principle when I was starting out on steemit. I began to see the see the parallels between learning to play a musical instrument and learning how to blog and socialize on steemit.

In conclusion, let me remind you a little saying from one of my favorite cartoon characters Master Shifu(from Kung Fu Panda)

If you only do what you can do you will never be more than you are.

So stretch yourself, expand your mind, put some more steam on it. Steem on!

Thank you very much for spending your precious time to read this. I hope it was value for your time.

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