Breaking a bad habit

I’ve developed some bad habits. Bad accordion playing habits, that is. From the very beginning, Liz has been telling me to slow down at each lesson and to stop playing so staccato, and I try, but I’m a speedster and want to make the music happen. Now I know why slowing down is so important. In my attempt to make my brain and fingers work together, I’ve been playing in a choppy fashion, and now I have to unlearn those bad habits. Today, I tried to do that, and I wanted to scream. I had to force myself to slow down and think, think, think, even harder than I already do. It’s been grueling and challenging. When people ask me how my lessons are coming along, I chuckle and explain it as trying to chew gum, walk, and rub your stomach all at the same time. I thought about my first practice session at home, and I remember my son warning me about forming bad habits. I didn’t pay attention. Sounds like role reversal to me. It reminds me of how I don’t pay attention to God when he sends me a gentle warning. I just keep plowing ahead, in my own way, and I find myself having to stop or slow down so I can do things his way, the right way. So now, here I am, forced and determined to break out of a bad habit. Somewhere, I’ve heard that it takes 30 days to form a new habit. Thirty days seems like an eternity.

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