Posted by Leland on June 21, 2001 at 16:21:37:
In Reply to: Grumbles posted by Tracy on June 18, 2001 at 17:09:11:
It wasn't until I was halfway through college when my dad told me that he finally understood why I was taking up music for a living.
Some time before, I had said that it's what I love to do, and for some reason I just need to do it. He gave that a lot of thought, and after applying it to himself, realized that he was in journalism for the same reasons -- it's what he genuinely loves to do. The idea is that if someone loves to do something enough, they'll find a way to succeed at it. He told me that knew I would be fine in the military because, when we worked out together as I prepared for boot camp, he said he had never seen me work so hard to push my limits for anything before.
He never got on my case about spending so much time with that silly tuba -- maybe because he and my mom still perform themselves, although usually with an amateur amount of responsibility.
You've got a lot of time left before your career "starts". Remember, if for whatever reason the music thing doesn't pan out, you're certainly capable of doing very well in any other field (a lot of the population can't even do calculus worth a darn!).