This weekend, I’m speaking at the Empower You conference in California, and I thought I’d share a blog post about finding joy.

~*~

The restaurant was noisy yet festive, and we’d just been seated at a high-top table by the window when a waitress came to take our drink order. Michael and I were having dinner with a colleague and his wife, Martha, a new acquaintance.

During our dinner conversation, Martha happened to mention her love of painting.

“I love a winter scene and can stand for hours on a mat in the snow painting what I see,” she declared.

Have you always painted, I asked.

“No,” she said. “Three years ago, I could barely draw a stick figure, but now it’s become a legit love affair. Have a look.”

Martha grabbed her phone and scrolled through four paintings – a portrait, a still life of apples, and two stunning nature scenes.

Wow, I guess you can paint, I told Martha, impressed by her ability. These are gorgeous!

What Martha had accomplished in three years was shocking. She was nearing seventy, had never painted before, and now clearly claimed the art form as her own.

Ok, what’s your secret? I asked, excited to hear her response, because I’ve always wanted to study piano but have repeatedly succumbed to voices that say you’re too old to learn an instrument, that you’ll just be disappointed, and that it will be too much of a challenge.

“Here’s the secret,” Martha whispered, leaning in for effect. “You have to hang in there when it gets hard. Period. If you keep going, you’ll tumble into joy.”

Three days later, I booked my first piano lesson, and here’s what happened…

My teacher, a young man in his twenties who teaches school kids so I figured I was in good hands, started our lesson by asking: “What kind of music do you like, Cheryl? Can you play anything now?”

In a shy, squeaky voice, I admitted I could play the first eight notes of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.”

“Oh, do you like Led Zeppelin?” he asked.

Yes, I’ve loved them ever since I was a teenager. I listened to every song and memorized all the lyrics.

“Well, this is awesome,” exclaimed Josh, his eyes mirroring the excited list of ideas ticking through his brain. “We’re going to start by learning Led Zeppelin!”

I blushed, mentally dismissing his inflated expectations because I knew better. Or at least I thought so. Funny how life has a way of smacking you upside the head when you get in your own way.

Josh is a classically trained musician who loves rock. He’s been a member of a Led Zeppelin tribute band for years.

Of course he is….

Turns out that when you’re willing to ignore the voices that try to keep you safe, you can trust life to take you by the hand and lead the way. Yes, joy is available at every age.

Two years, lots of lessons, and plenty of practice have taught me that hard doesn’t mean stop. Sometimes hard is simply the doorway we have to walk through to discover a part of ourselves we haven’t met yet.

Love,

Cheryl