Towards the beginning of the year, I had set a goal for myself to write one measure a day. Only a couple of notes per day. Couldn’t be that hard right? I had all the resources, I had all the training I needed, but one essential thing was lacking. Where would I start? I found myself staring at a blank sheet of paper, untouched. The endless amounts of melodies and harmonies that could be created, but where would I start? 

As the thunderstorm of self-doubt and frustration consumed me, I gave up on trying to write my own music, but the what if still lingered in my head. Just like our lives, the question of “what if” had come. Life is filled with “what ifs”.  What art would I create if I had continued? Where would my life be right now? As the thoughts clouded my mind, I had felt myself falling down the slippery slope of negativity.

As I had lamented in the thoughts, I realized that dwelling in the past is a double-edged sword. It’s important to acknowledge the failures of the past, not as a form of grief but as a form of growth. The present is an empty canvas, waiting to be painted.

Writing music no longer became a matter of what sounds good, but instead the raw, unfiltered expression of myself. The empty page no longer became a place of stress. The empty page had transformed into a sanctuary. A place where I could celebrate the complexities and imperfections that make me, well, me.

A harmony serves as a steadfast companion to the melody. It intertwines and switches place with the melody, providing depth, extravagance and completeness of the piece. Similarly, the challenges and adversities we face in life, act as the harmony to our melody. They add the contrast that makes the lights in our lives shine even brighter against the backdrop of struggle. 

Without the contrast of hardship, the sweetness of success might lose its luster. Thus, like harmonies in a symphony, life’s difficulties enhance the beauty of our accomplishments, reminding us to cherish the good in every note of our existence.