Worth the time

This blog has been brewing in my mind for a little while now.  I am writing this as a reminder to myself, that nothing worthwhile ever comes easy.  It will always take either patience, diligence or sacrifice. This I have found to be true with all areas of life.   Sometimes there is pain involved... sometimes it is simply an inconvenience.  But always, the "worthwhile" things require compensation.    
I am convinced that the things you really want from life require work.   For some reason our culture has began to program us, to believe that things can happen over night.   With shows like American Idol, or America's Next Top Model people go from unknown to superstar in an extremely short period of time.  This is a false perspective of how things really occur in this game called life.    For 99% of us, we will be required to sacrifice and put the time in to get the prize.  

Talking to a singer friend of mine, she was commenting on "things that people say to singers"  one of the catch-phrases being, "you have such incredible natural talent." This rubbed her the wrong way. For the untrained ear this could easily be assumed.  Let me tell you, however, this girl clocks more hours in the practice than anyone I know.  She lives and breathes her craft.  Her talent was earned through endless hours of lessons and rehearsals.   Granted, she very likely had a gem of an instrument to begin with but always there is hard work involved when honing a craft. 

I think that Edison sums it up in this quote:

                            opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed
                                         in overalls and looks like work.

Embrace the journey, embrace the process.   Product without process will wither and fade because it doesn't have the foundation of time to root it.   


Words of Wisdom: 

"Don't practice your art, but force your way into its secrets for it and knowledge can raise men to divine."   - L.V. Beethoven

"Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different?" - C.S. Lewis

"Be so good they can't ignore you."  - Steve Martin

"We are shaped and fashioned by what we love."  - Goethe

"Never give up on a dream just because it will take time to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway."  -Earl Nightingale

What comes easy wont last, what lasts wont come easy.