1,000 Days of Piano - Day 98: Keeping Up

I used to think challenge goals were exciting and dramatic. Now the exhilaration has worn off, and practice feels just as dull and daily as it did before. I am practicing more...a lot more. I usually practice as much as I dare, stopping only when I get hungry or think someone else is hungry or I think the dishes or laundry need tending. It’s wonderful, but it feels so ordinary.
I read a book once that called this phenomenon hedonistic habituation. You walk into a bakery, and the smell of warm sugar, butter, and flour wraps you in its magic spell. It’s so delicious that you think you could stay there all day, breathing in buttery baked goodness. Only the reality is that if you stay in there long enough, the fragrance of warm cupcakes retreats to the back of your awareness. You get used to it, and the bakery loses its charm. One way to rekindle it is to step outside and come back in.
Another way to keep the enthusiasm alive is to learn something or cultivate a new skill. That keeps things fresh. For me the lure of new music lasted for a while. Now I find that the slow progress that is made necessary by a lack of increase in time to practice is fueling the feeling of tedium. I’ve topped off at about an hour at the instrument.

Maybe, though, the ordinariness is a good thing. It’s comfortable, and that’s a pleasant place to rest before gearing up for another challenge.