Making a living as a professional musician is an uphill battle all the way. Nothing is certain. No gigs last forever. You are constantly required to hone your skills and become a better master of your instrument(s).

Sometimes I find it hard to keep going. Sometimes I wonder if anything I do really matters. But I’m reminded of my favorite quote, and that gives me inspiration. I hope you will find it inspiring as well:

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arenas; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood who strives valiantly; who errs and comes up short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievements; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither defeat nor victory.”

– Theodore Roosevelt
April 10, 1899