My son and a friend started a book club yesterday. He doesn't have his own phone yet, so his pal called me and I did the obligatory goofy dad bit before the boy grabbed my phone and took up to a plush chair in the living room alcove.
After the call he made the announcement. "She's already on page 28. I have to catch up. I'm only on page 20."
Consistent practice leads to new ventures. This past summer we asked him to read at least 30 minutes, daily. He also fills out a 12x12 multiplication grid and I usually have him practice division or fractions.
He would complain here and there, but we were consistent and he found his motivation.
My goal is to raise holistically well-rounded children. I've spoken to my son about warrior poets. Those few men of old who were as talented at a sword as they were with pen and word.
Personalities don't have to be one-dimensional. Some people only identify as a political entity. Others as 'foodies' or as their favorite sports team, or as a guy who would do anything, and I mean anything, to get on that space shuttle to Mars with Elon.
I want to identify as a multi-dimensional human. If I'm into a thing, awesome. But it's not going to drive my entire person. Not anymore.
In my 20s I was only one thing. Wrapped up with fundamentalists, I was fully in. That's a polarizing personality to adopt. I separated myself from old friends and family for years to better fit the prescribed mold.
It was an often painful experience. And when I began to shake myself awake the people I adopted as my friends and family shook me off.
After that experience, my attitude has evolved to, "Why limit yourself?"
You can be anything in the world.
I've been playing with this idea in my head of adopting the lifestyle of an actor. I think there's something to this and intend to develop into its own proper post. But here's the fast and skinny as a teaser.
If you were going to be an actor who was cast into a movie about one of the greatest musicians then you'd do everything in your power to learn everything you could about music theory and the practice of playing musical instruments.
If you, as whoever you are, told yourself, in four months I'm going to be cast into a movie, then you'd practice at that thing every day in preparation.
Of course, you're not really an actor (unless you are) and neither am I (unless I am), but tricking your mind into believing it would force you to shake up your routine, break less than helpful habits and place your spare energy into becoming a musician.
And you could absolutely do that. Not just once a year, but three times a year. In ten years you'd have picked up 30 skills and reached a level of proficiency that was good enough to show off at parties.
This is me compelling you to break out of the rut of your routine, shake it up, take up a new skill, make new experiences, and drink of the fountain of life a little bit deeper.