Don't Let THIS Keep You From Learning Guitar - Lessons From Cancer

When I was 16 years old, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is cancer of the lymph nodes. And while many people see cancer as a bad thing, now that I'm 42 years old, I realize that having cancer is actually one of the greatest things that happened to me and to have it happen at such a young age, because I learned some very, very important lessons that I want to share with you today. Because, you know, time is a very, very valuable asset. And I know there's a lot of people on my channel who are learning guitar as older adults. It's something we wish we did, you know, 20, 30 years ago, but, you know, there's no better time than today. And hopefully this. This story inspires you to stop pushing off learning the guitar. Because, you know, my mom, she answered the phone when the doctors called, and she was in the kitchen. Then she kind of joined me in the living room. I was watching T. And we had a really real conversation. Now this is 1999, and we had a real conversation about life and death because, you know, my mom asked the doctors, like, can I tell her everything's gonna be okay? And they're like, you. You actually can't, because we can't guarantee. We can't guarantee that she's gonna make it. But you can tell her, you know, that we're gonna fight as hell. And that's exactly what we did. You know, we sat down, you know, we. We. We. We cried a lot. And it was a really tough bill to swallow, you know, at 16. Because at 16, you're thinking about, you know, you're thinking you're gonna live till you're 80, 90. Everyone thinks that. And you're thinking about all these great things you're gonna do, and you're like, man, I might not even. I might not even go to college. Fortunately for me, you know, Hodgkin's lymphoma was. Was very curable, A very curable cancer. But, you know, I learned so much from that experience that I carried into. To my adulthood, and I am so grateful for that. So I want to share a story that a student posted in my guitar community recently. Their name is Terry. So my name is Terry. I just started your seven level guitar course. I've always wanted to learn to play the guitar. It was always in the back of my head. I love listening to country music and just always wish I could listen to a song and. And then grab my guitar and join in. But as life goes on, there's school there's work, errands, et cetera. I finally told myself it's time to enjoy life with the things I actually like doing or want to do, not things I have to do. And I like that Terry mentions doing things that he wants to do with his life. It's very easy in life to just say, oh, you know, someday I'll do it. Or, you know, I'll wait until next year, or give me a couple years. I'll do it in a couple years when I retire. And the problem with that is we keep pushing things off. And as soon as, you know, next week becomes next month, next month becomes next year, next year becomes 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, and we look back and we say, gee, I never did that thing that I said I was always going to do. And what I learned at the age of 16 is that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

Okay?

And, you know, I'm 42 now, and I live my life in a very intentional way that I'm going to do today what I want to do. Everyone, you know, it's a blessing and a curse because I'm also very impulsive. You know, my wife will always tease me when something needs to be done. I'm like, okay, let's do it. And she's like, right now? Like, right now? Yes, right now. Like, why are we gonna wait for later? Let's do it right now while we're talking about it. Um, so it is a blessing and a curse because I have this. This sense of immediacy about time in my life. And that's why when I wanted to do things, like, I wanted to. To learn to ride a motorcycle. I bought a motorcycle and I learned to ride one. I wanted to learn how to juggle. I did it. I wanted to, you know, learn how to break dance. And my friend and I learned how to break dance. It was like I wanted to do something. So I did it. I didn't wait on others. I remember in my early 20s, I went to Aruba, and this was shortly after, I forget. There was a girl who. Who disappeared in Aruba. And I went to Aruba by myself. I think it was a couple years later. Everyone's like, you're going to Aruba by yourself? And I said, yeah, because I wanted to go. And I couldn't find anyone else who wanted to go with me. And I didn't put it off. I went to Aruba, and it's because of that strong desire that I learned from being younger that, you know, I might not be here tomorrow to Enjoy Aruba. So I should do it right now. And I knew as I got older that I didn't want to have any regrets. And, you know, they talk to nurses who, who work with adults on, on their deathbeds, and oftentimes we talk about the things that we regretted not doing in life. And that's something that I, I never wanted to, to regret. And I tell people all the time, there's no question that learning to play the guitar takes time. It's not going to happen in weeks, it's not going to happen months, it'll probably take a year for you to feel really good about yourself or feel like you're, you're really getting somewhere with this instrument. So it does take time. And, and you do have to have intention behind it. And, you know, there's always going to be something in your life that prevents you. Just like Terry said, oh, you know, I got a job, or you have kids, and life will always get in the way if you allow it to. Where it stops getting in the way is when you learn to prioritize the things that are important to you. I'm very, very busy even, even to this day in my life. But, you know, I recognize that when things are not getting done, it's just because I'm not prioritizing it as important. I recently started working out with a personal trainer again, because I myself was not prioritizing my health, believe it or not. I mean, I was still eating healthy, but I wasn't prioritizing my strength.

Okay.

And that's such an important part of my life. So I decided I'm going to get some accountability to do this because I wasn't making it a priority. And when you make the things you want to do, when you, when you decide you're going to change and do something different, if you prioritize that, you will actually find the time to make the difference. Now, if I told you, you know, you have to learn how to play a song on the guitar in the next month or you'll die. I know that's a super extreme example, but I bet you would find all the time in the world to learn the guitar, to continue to live. So the urgency of getting it done is also there. You know, when we're younger, we think we have so much time. Okay, I just want to remind you that again, none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. I'm basically on borrowed time right now. Like, I'm very happy. I'm very grateful for modern science, science to still be here, but in, in general, I'M on borrowed time. A lot of people don't even know this about me. I don't think I've shared this with anyone except for personal people in my life. When I was 18, after I was diagnosed with cancer, I actually got diagnosed with tuberculosis. Believe it or not, I got tuberculosis probably from being in the hospital and being immunocompromised. So that's the second time, you know, tuberculosis was a deadly disease, you know, earlier, 100 years ago, 200 years ago, people just died of consumption, which was tuberculos. So twice, you know, in before the age of 20, modern science has saved my life. So I am very grateful and very grateful to be here because, you know, if I was born in a different decade, I would not be here right now. And that's the truth. Now, if we go back to that example of you have one month left to live, or if you learned a song, you could extend your life, what would that song be? Think of the artists that inspired you to love guitar. So for me, you know, it was. It was Melissa Etheridge when I was in high school, because that's why I started learning to play the guitar. I wanted to play the guitar like Melissa Etheridge. And I love Nancy Wilson of Heart. That intro to Crazy on youn is still like a dream goal of mine to be able to play that. It's just. I hear that type of stuff and it's so inspiring to me. And you have a song or you have an artist that you're like, I wish I could just play the guitar, like so and so. All right? And that's the stuff that's going to keep us rooted in our dream. We might not act on it yet, but that's going to be the thing that keeps pulling us back. All right? Whenever we hear that song on the radio, we hear that artist on the radio, you know, or on the computer, if you have a playlist or something. That's the thing that's going to keep pulling you back at your heartstrings for that goal. And it's going to be like, hey, like, why haven't you done this yet? Why haven't you done this yet? And only until that pain of not fulfilling this dream becomes hard enough will you. Will you usually act on it?

Okay.

And I mentioned it earlier, but one of my favorite quotes is the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is right now. Okay? Yes. We can't turn back the clock. We can't turn back the time and say, man, I wish I'd Learned the guitar 20 years ago. It wasn't a priority for you then, but make it a priority now. If you really want to learn the guitar, you have to set aside the time. You have to schedule it in. For me. If it's not on my schedule, it doesn't happen. That's why I had to go and hire the personal trainer, because now I know on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8am to 9am I'm going to the trainer to work out. It's in my schedule now, okay? It has now been prioritized as part of my. My ritual of life, my. My weekly ritual. It's there. And you have to do the same thing with guitar, okay? You have to create that schedule of, I'm going to practice no matter what happens. All right? The world could be burning outside. Hopefully not if the world's burning outside, like leave your home. But you're going to say, no matter what, I am going to practice. You know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, from 8am to 9am that's going to be my practice time. Or 8am to 8:30.

Okay?

You don't need to practice for an hour. You practice 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, okay? Whatever you're able to do, set it as a priority. Don't make your guitar playing dreams wait another day, okay? You do not want to be regretting on your deathbed that you didn't do this thing that you wanted to do your entire life. I speak from very, very personal experience that when you want to do something, you should do it right now. Don't wait. Book it in, prioritize it. And I want to share one more story of a good friend and student of mine who recently lost their battle with cancer. His wife sent me this message shortly after his passing, and he. She said, he and I have been together for over 41 years, and it wasn't until he started playing the guitar that he ever allowed me to hear him sing.

Okay.

You gave him the courage to share his voice. You are truly amazing. Sometimes we forget the impact that our choices have on others.

Okay.

So sometimes, you know, and that's like the great thing about guitar in music is that we get to share it with other people. We get to share the experience with other people. And. And I'm very happy. So this. This student, his name was Richard, and he started playing guitar in his 70s. He started taking lessons with me in his 70s.

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And I'm very happy he did because he got to share and create all these wonderful memories with his wife that I'm sure she will cherish for the rest of her life. So sometimes it's not about us. Sometimes we won't prioritize things for ourselves, but we'll do it for others. So think about your significant other. Think about your kids, your grandkids. I have so many students who write into me and they're like, I was able to play happy Birthday for my grandson's. My grandson's birthday. I'm so excited about that. I remember one time I had a student reach out to me. His wife was passing away, and I forgot. Forget what? What her favorite song was. It was. I think it was a Christmas song or something. And he said, I got to play that on the guitar for her before she passed away. So it's stuff like that that you don't realize the. The impact it has. Even for me teaching guitar, you know, I never thought I was going to be an online sensation or become an online guitar teacher and teach millions of people around the world to play guitar. I didn't think about that. And what really changed my perspective was when I finally realized the impact I was going to have on others. When someone wrote into me and was like, you literally saved my life by me learning to play guitar and watching your YouTube videos. I was like, wow. I was like, I did not realize how important my job of helping others learn music is. And it really. It's so life changing. And I do not want want you to miss out on this experience and sharing those wonderful memories with the people that you know and love. So if I can impart with you the biggest lesson that I learned on that living room couch when I was 16 is that you have to live life for today because you're definitely not guaranteed tomorrow. And every new day we have is a blessing. You've got this. You can do this. I believe in you. And if you want help along the way with the process, go to the link.

Okay.

You gave him the courage to share his voice. You are truly amazing. Sometimes we forget the impact that our choices have on others.

Okay.

So sometimes, you know, and that's like the great thing about guitar in music is that we get to share it with other people. We get to share the experience with other people. And I'm very happy. So this student, his name was Richard, and he started playing guitar in his 70s. He started taking lessons with me in his 70s.

Okay.

And I'm very happy he did because he got to share and create all these wonderful memories with his wife that I'm sure she will cherish for the rest of her life. So sometimes it's not about us. Sometimes we won't prioritize things for ourselves, but we'll do it for others. So think about your significant other. Think about your kids, your grandkids. I have so many students who write into me and they're like, I was able to play Happy Birthday for my grandson's. My grandson's, you know, birthday. I'm so excited about that. I remember one time I had a student reach out to me. His wife was passing away and I forget what, what her favorite song was. It was, I think it was a Christmas song or something. And he said, I got to play that on the guitar for her before she passed away. So it's stuff like that that you don't realize the, the impact it has. Even for me teaching guitar. You know, I never thought I was going to be an online sensation or become an online guitar teacher and teach millions of people around the world to play guitar. I didn't think about that. And what really changed my perspective was when I finally realized the impact I was going to have on others. When someone wrote into me and was like, you literally saved my life by me learning to play guitar and watching your YouTube videos. I was like, wow. I was like, I did not realize how important my job of helping others learn music is. And it really, it's so life changing. And I do not want you to miss out on this experience and sharing those wonderful memories with the people that you know and love. So if I can impart with you the biggest lesson that I learned on that living room coach when I was 16 is that you have to live life for today because you're definitely not guaranteed tomorrow. And every new day we have is a blessing. You've got this. You can do this. I believe in you. And if you want help along the way with the process, go to the link in the description below. Check out my seven level guitar system. I would love to help you start making your dream of playing the guitar come true today, not tomorrow.