I have joined a 30-day Productivity Challenge and wanted to share my journey with you and invite you to join me. Click here – https://30dayproductivity.com – if you want to join me. I think that this could be a lot of fun, especially completing it as a community.

Today’s productivity challenge is to review and reflect the past week, plan ahead for the next week, and refine anything that is not working. Thus far, things have been working well with some challenges – like getting into the groove of working out consistently. I shared more about this challenge and you can read it here. Today, I thought I would share another challenge, one that brought me to tears.

If you recall, one of my goals for this year was as follows:

Become proficient in playing the piano so that most simple songs can be played on sight reading or with a little practice, including songs needed for choir and cantoring.

I even shared a little bit about how attempting to become proficient ran into some difficulty, specifically because the middle E key was sticking and some of the keys were playing the same note. I even wrote about scheduling the tuner on Day 5 of this challenge. And the tuner came and did the best job that he could, but there were some unexpected findings.

My old girl has reached the point where she must be replaced. Her harp wires have started to corrode; the cedar dowels connecting the hammers are so old that they have become brittle and are starting to snap; my hammers can no longer be shaped and must be replaced; the dampers are no longer working as they have become too compressed. And she cannot be tuned to current concert pitch as the tuner fears that her strings will snap. He did the best he could to put her back together so that we can enjoy her final days as long as possible.

I called my husband sobbing.

Yes, I cried over my piano. I have so much sentiment about the old girl and she represents the fulfillment of so many of my life’s dreams, prayers, and desires. You see, I have always wanted to learn to play the piano. My paternal grandmother was a consummate pianist and would lull me to sleep every summer of my childhood playing classical music. I was never allowed to take lessons because we didn’t have room for a piano or the funds for lessons. My grandmother showed me a few things over the years, like how to move up and down the keys, but I never spent enough time with her to learn anything substantial.

Fast forward a few decades and thousands of prayers later, and I found a listing for a free Tennyson Chicago upright grand piano. I rented a truck and went to pick it up. Cost of the truck rental: $100. I arranged for some neighbors to help me move it to the second floor of the duplex I lived in, bribing them with pizza and beer. Unfortunately, this 550 pound beauty is as wide as she is tall and could not work around the stairs. One neighbor let me store her in his garage while I figured out how to get her into my apartment.

I was fortunate that I worked for a corporation that had connections with crane companies and gave me some referrals. After calling around, I was able to hire a crane to hoist the piano up to the second floor and “swing” the piano into the apartment through the little porch. Cost of the crane: $300.

So, my free piano was finally settled in her home and needed to be tuned. After all, her journey was not as smooth as was in her best interest. The tuner came and stated that she was in much better condition than he had anticipated based on the story of her journey. Cost of the tuner: $100.

After an investment of just over $500, our “free” piano was at home and ready to be enjoyed. My joy was priceless.

When we moved across the state, the piano came with us. The same crane company not only helped bring the piano down, but was also kind enough to bring down pallets of boxes and all of our large furniture. Throughout the years, she moved around the house, simply because of her weight. We always wanted to make sure her weight was distributed across foundational supports.

As for lessons, I was able to take some basic lessons over the years. But like most people, our lives ebb and flow with responsibilities, work, children, and so forth. My girl would go through periods of neglect followed by periods of regular play. Each of my children took lessons and learned the basics on her. We spent hours singing songs as our abilities improved. None of us are proficient by any means, but we enjoyed playing what we could. The piano is as much a part of the family as any heirloom.

When I got divorced, and eventually remarried, the piano came with us. My new husband loves listening to me play. And never complained about having to move her from my old house to his or when we moved her around the music room/home office when we remodeled. He fully supported the cost of tuning her and making occasional repairs. When I called him sobbing about the state of my old girl, he sympathized and told me to find out how much it would cost to have her restored.

$11,000. This is a huge investment that is quite frankly, out of our budget and against the goals that we established for the year. And the tuner that we had repair her advised that he was not comfortable doing those types of extensive repairs and rebuilding. We found a piano restoration company and based on her age, brand, and other factors, they advised that we not put the investment into her. Quite simply, she is not worth anything beyond sentimentality.

My husband asked me if I could have any piano in the world, what would I want? I had secretly always wanted a baby grand piano. I love the way they open and you can see the harp and the keys striking the wires while you play. To me, a baby grand piano represented abundance, elegance, grace, and beauty. But it was a dream that I always pushed away because I had a beautiful piano that I truly loved and that meant so much to me.

It’s kind of interesting the way things work out sometimes. I had secretly wanted a baby grand and would admire them whenever I saw one in a restaurant, bar, or hotel. I never dreamed that I would actually own one some day. But my husband told me to look around and see what I could find. The piano restoration company has a gorgeous baby grand that is significantly less than the cost of refurbishing my old lady. And is financially feasible even with our goals.

For now, I am playing the old girl, but gently. Anything too much and I fear her cedars will snap or a wire will break. Like a well-loved relative, we are taking care of her and treating her with all the love and respect that we have during her final days. My goal of becoming proficient is on the shelf for the moment; I play tunes that I am comfortable with.

I am sure that you are wondering what this has to do with today’s objective to review and reflect. In the midst of our busy lives, taking the time to review and reflect is a practice with profound benefits. It offers clarity by aligning our actions with our goals and values, while also teaching us valuable lessons from past mistakes. Identifying areas for personal growth and sparking creativity are additional advantages. Most notably, reflection can reveal opportunities that may have otherwise remained hidden. Enhancing decision-making and cultivating mindfulness are added bonuses. Incorporating this practice, even if only for a few minutes each day or a designated time each week, can lead to significant personal and professional growth. So, don’t underestimate the power of pausing, reviewing, and reflecting—it might just open doors to exciting new opportunities.

Now imagine what might have happened had I not set a goal, with tasks, and began working toward it. What if I had just played the piano anyway? She could have suffered more damage and I would have been surprised when she could not be repaired. I would not have been open to a new opportunity. I would most likely have given up on my goal entirely. Instead, I have a path forward to not only fulfill my goal but to also fulfill a dream and take the time to be grateful for the opportunities that I have. I am also grateful for the experiences and the joy that our old piano brought us, releasing the sentimental strings so that I can positively embrace her replacement.

What areas of your life should you review and reflect? What opportunities could you be missing by not taking that moment to pause?