Your fingers play the piano keys with excellent fervor. You’ve practiced these notes and chords hundreds of times. For some reason, you still feel inadequate. “Why doesn’t this song sound passionate when I play?”
You have a live performance to play in just a few hours. Time is passing faster than you hoped for, and you begin to pound the keys harder. And harder. And sloppier. Doubt and frustration is creeping in. You begin to feel yourself coming apart at the seams.
You close your eyes and allow yourself finally to take a deep breath. There’s a long pause that allows you to slow down and think. You hear a voice say, “Believing is the pinnacle of becoming. If you believe it, you shall become it.”
This man’s name was Ludwig van Beethoven. He lost hearing and became deaf over time. A tragedy standing in his way, he couldn’t hear the notes and beautiful sounds that he once could. The beautiful piano pieces he wrote changed the way music was understood in his day and age. Even though every obstacle was laid out in front of him, he played on.
Believe it, become it.
No Place Like Gone 