The Curse of Appreciation

People have congratulated me many times for writing a book. And, finally, I really appreciate that!

See, I have always had a love-hate relationship with other people’s appreication and praise. While I always have gratitude for it, and am thankful that many peole throughout my life have truly wonderful and kind towards me, I often “know” the difference. Let me give you some examples:

• When people have said “wow, you’re really good at guitar”, I go, have you seen my bandmates? I mean, I just have to look to my right and see a guy who kills it every gig better than me. And then, there’s a million, prpoably more in the world that makes me look like I’m an amateur.
• “Wow, you’re a master chess player. You must be great!”. My first thought is, do you know how many 8 year olds there are in the world right now that I’ll never be as good as? I have studied chess for 40 years, and litterally there are 8 years olds who could beat me blindfolded. They have been at it probably for 4, FOUR, years!! How could I ever agree with the nice sentinment that I’m great?! I just can’t.

But, in openness, now, things are a bit different. Playing music and chess is not only about effort (and for me, it’s A LOT of effort – I love them dearly but I work at them exceedingly more than my results show!), it’s about output. And while of course there are absolutley wonderful authors out there (really, they’re everywhere). But for me, it’s different. It has been an excerise of will, determination, consistency and stick-to-itness that I,finally, am proud of.

So, the next time someone tells me “Wow, you wrote a book! Well done”, I’ll look them in the eye and say, “Yea, right!”.

Unless it’s my wife, and she’ll just tell me to get off my high horse 😉.

Till next time,

Len