Before I became a scuba instructor, I had a regular full time 9 to 5 job as a sales manager at a national newspaper; my escape from the rat race was to go scuba diving. When I went down to Laguna Beach near my home in Orange County California, I would get in the water and hover around the reefs and I would just relax and really unwind. After I started scuba diving for a living, since I did 3 to 5 dives a day for work I needed to find a new hobby. That is why I decided to buy a guitar. I was always interested in music and wanted my whole life to learn to play the guitar. I messed around with guitars a few times over the years and knew how to play a few chords but I never really applied myself to really learning how to play, so that is what I did.
Trying to learn to play guitar was a struggle at first, I bought a couple of guitar books and videos and they helped a bit, but after going through them all I could do is play a few more chords and a handful of chord progressions and riffs. I was not able to get past just playing the intros to a few songs and some cool riffs and it was embarrassing. People would say “Oh, you play guitar? Play something for me.” And that is all I had, a few riffs and chord progressions.
Hiring a guitar teacher was not an option. With my lifestyle it is difficult to make that kind of rigid commitment to meet with a teacher at a set time and place. I had to learn on my own schedule. That is when I discovered that there are amazing instructional programs that I could download on my computer so I can learn and practice at my leisure. With those programs I went from playing a few chords to playing complete songs from beginning to end and singing too. Now playing guitar is a pleasure for me. Now I can pick up a guitar and sit and play several complete songs and really unwind and relax; and I am not too embarrassed when someone asks me to play something (except for my lousy singing voice, but that is a whole other story).
I encourage anyone I talk with to pursue their dreams. If you can do what I did and turn your hobby into your way of life then I applaud you, but when your hobby becomes your job, you need to find a new way to unwind. For me, playing guitar is a perfect hobby to go along with my scuba instructor lifestyle. Perhaps for you it is landscaping, fishing, coin collecting, model airplanes or aquariums; whatever it is, go after your dreams and live your life, it is never too late to start.
Posted Tim Sanchez
http://www.vistasbelow.com
