pushing ice around

This seems like an allegory for getting older/wiser...

getting rid of parts of ourselves that have been constructed.

Not quite Plato's cave, mind you, 

but it did make me think about the things we work towards improving, 

the characteristics we pride ourselves on, 

and the funny mixture of nature and nurture, 

especially with this current debate on Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hour rule.

After yet another audition this weekend, part of me is relieved that I am more than what I do, 

and that maybe it isn't just about not having practiced enough. 

(And it will be such a party when one of these blasted 5minute events finally works out.)

This list from F. Scott Fitzgerald was particularly comforting.

Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship

Things not to worry about: 

Don’t worry about popular opinion
Don’t worry about dolls
Don’t worry about the past
Don’t worry about the future
Don’t worry about growing up
Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don’t worry about mosquitoes
Don’t worry about flies
Don’t worry about insects in general
Don’t worry about parents
Don’t worry about boys
Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Don’t worry about satisfactions

Things to think about: 

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?

With dearest love,

Daddy

In 1933, renowned author F. Scott Fitzgerald ended a letter to his 11-year-old daughter, Scottie, with a list of things to worry about, not worry about, and simply think about. 
(Source: F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Life in Letters; Image: F. Scott Fitzgerald with his daughter, Scottie, in 1924.)

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