Moving On

When I started college I wanted to be a music teacher. I took hours and hours of music classes, music theory, music appreciation, music history, voice lessons, piano lessons...I really wanted to be a musician. I sang in the church choir, even sang solos. I remember one music theory class as if it happened yesterday. We were going through rhythms. I just couldn't get it! The professor finally looked at me and said, "Diana, by now these rhythms should be cliche!" But, alas, I have no rhythm. I can't even sing and clap at the same time. I'm a great singer when I can sing with recorded music and I memorize the timing, but put me with pianist and I'm lost.

I was not meant to be a musician. So, was all the training that I went through a waste? My identity was wrapped up in my dream of being a music teacher, but now what?

I don't believe that there is any waste in God's economy. He uses all of our experiences to build our future. My ability to get up and sing in front of an audience has made it easy for me to transition into public speaking. I use music when I take clients through stress management exercises. In order to become a music teacher I had to take a general psychology class...and through that class I found my career.

"The key to being able to move on is taking the good with you. Take stock of what you can carry forth with you into a new situation - those qualities, skills, and lessons that will serve you indefinitely. What you cannot carry forth with you was just the package those qualities came in. Say goodbye to the package - the clothes, the status, the opinion others have of you, the perks, the bells and whistles, the people that are only there because of the trappings.

You may have formed a whole identity around that package, so you must separate it from the gifts that are inside it. Those are transferable and permanent. The package will always be dispensable. We mistakenly give too much power to the package." Now What? Laura Berman Fortang