Every minute must be intentional

It’s sadden me that I’m giving up piano. I’ve been playing piano for over ten years now, and while I was never a rigorous player, I always practiced consistently. As a freshman, I found time to practice every night and over the summer, I practiced daily as well. Even though I’m just one year older, it’s so difficult to find time to practice. I practice maybe once per week, and during the weekends, I’m always cooped up in my dorm working on something. During my piano lesson last week, I told my teacher I would be dropping piano winter term. 

While I’m sitting here writing that I don’t have time to practice, the truth is, I think I could have time. My having to quit piano is really my own workings of not making time for it. When I look at all the people at school who seem to be part of every dance group, every math club, every community engagement, and every debate team, I always wonder how they do it. Maybe they cut back on sleep. Maybe they don’t finish all their homework. Maybe they do finish their homework for the week during the weekends, and then focus on those clubs during the week. The thing is, at Andover and in the rest of life, I realize that nothing is going to happen unless I make time for it. 

Perhaps I’ve learned this the hard way, by allowing myself to fall too deep into the habit of not practicing piano, and not making time for it. When I say “make time for it”, I mean write out a schedule and leave a slot blank. I didn’t realize how intentional making time had to be. Each weekend I’ve told myself, alright Ava, you’re gonna relax this weekend and watch a movie. It never happened. The TV’s would be off the entire weekend and my Amazon PrimeVideo app would not be opened either. This weekend, I tried something different. I told myself not to work from 7-8 PM. During that time I actually did not work and I found time to enjoy a portion of a movie. I suppose that’s how all those people on campus who seem to be a part of every club manage their time. I’ve learned nothing is just going to happen if I tell myself to do it. Every minute must be intentional, and making time for things in my life is really a testament of how well I can purposefully delegate time.