This question depends on how old I was when I was imagining my future life, but overall, I would say my current life is very different from what I have imagined in the past. This is because I have worked on many things and my parents have made several important decisions in the last few years. For instance, I never thought I would be so attracted to music that I might consider becoming a professional musician in the future.
Surprisingly, I did not grow up liking music because I did not like playing the piano as a child. It was boring to me and I was the kid who would never practice long enough for the piano chair to even get warm. I didn’t immediately quit playing the piano mostly because my teacher was amiable and I really liked her.
During the end of my fourth-grade year in Japan, I started to play the saxophone in school. I was fine with playing the saxophone, but I did not love it either; it was only fun for me because I could spend more time with my friends. I did not particularly like playing the saxophone until the middle of my seventh-grade year; when I started to take private lessons and practice deliberately because I was frustrated that I did not get promoted to the best band in my school. (I was already in the second best band as a sixth-grader, so I was expecting to be in the best band for my seventh-grade year.) Sometimes, I would practice until my lips felt like they had caught on fire, but the hard work was worth it because I won my first major contest that year. Winning the contest and realizing that I am good at what I do gave me confidence and boosted my interest in saxophone which eventually also boosted my interest in other instruments and music. I still play the piano even though I am going to high school next year, and I just started singing jazz music.
Recently, I devote more than half of my free time to music (mostly saxophone), and I am working toward a much more advanced standard and goals such as improving my jazz technique and winning state competitions in high school. I also want to create a jazz band during my high school years and continue playing the saxophone for the rest of my life. My attitude towards music changed drastically, and I also learned that my hard work would actually pay off someday. My elementary school self probably could never even imagine how she turned into a “music nerd” just after a few years.
Another major aspect of my life that I did not expect was moving to the United States. Three years ago, my parents decided to immigrate to the United States because they believed I would have more resources and opportunities to become successful here. I never thought I was going to live in the United States because I was already moving between Japan and China before moving to where I live now. Moving to different places meant new people, a new environment, and new life for both me and my parents, and I spent three years adapting to the school and life in the United States. I felt like I was constantly being held back to the starting point of a mountain every time I was getting close to the summit.
Furthermore, I decided to apply for private high schools at the beginning of last school year. I experienced so many new things throughout the process such as taking standardized tests, writing essays for schools, and the most nerve-racking part of it, student interviews. Fortunately, I was accepted by a school that I wanted to go to, and I am going to that school in the fall. I never expected all these because all the decisions were being made really quickly by myself and my parents, and they all happened pretty rapidly.
To be honest, I probably didn’t expect most parts of my current life, but my life turned out to be better than what I had imagined as a child. I have almost everything I wanted to achieve and to have, and the most important thing is that I have distinct goals that I want to accomplish. Having a goal is really important because it can lead me to a better self and to a “new self” that I could not imagine right now.
Surprisingly, I did not grow up liking music because I did not like playing the piano as a child. It was boring to me and I was the kid who would never practice long enough for the piano chair to even get warm. I didn’t immediately quit playing the piano mostly because my teacher was amiable and I really liked her.
During the end of my fourth-grade year in Japan, I started to play the saxophone in school. I was fine with playing the saxophone, but I did not love it either; it was only fun for me because I could spend more time with my friends. I did not particularly like playing the saxophone until the middle of my seventh-grade year; when I started to take private lessons and practice deliberately because I was frustrated that I did not get promoted to the best band in my school. (I was already in the second best band as a sixth-grader, so I was expecting to be in the best band for my seventh-grade year.) Sometimes, I would practice until my lips felt like they had caught on fire, but the hard work was worth it because I won my first major contest that year. Winning the contest and realizing that I am good at what I do gave me confidence and boosted my interest in saxophone which eventually also boosted my interest in other instruments and music. I still play the piano even though I am going to high school next year, and I just started singing jazz music.
Recently, I devote more than half of my free time to music (mostly saxophone), and I am working toward a much more advanced standard and goals such as improving my jazz technique and winning state competitions in high school. I also want to create a jazz band during my high school years and continue playing the saxophone for the rest of my life. My attitude towards music changed drastically, and I also learned that my hard work would actually pay off someday. My elementary school self probably could never even imagine how she turned into a “music nerd” just after a few years.
Another major aspect of my life that I did not expect was moving to the United States. Three years ago, my parents decided to immigrate to the United States because they believed I would have more resources and opportunities to become successful here. I never thought I was going to live in the United States because I was already moving between Japan and China before moving to where I live now. Moving to different places meant new people, a new environment, and new life for both me and my parents, and I spent three years adapting to the school and life in the United States. I felt like I was constantly being held back to the starting point of a mountain every time I was getting close to the summit.
Furthermore, I decided to apply for private high schools at the beginning of last school year. I experienced so many new things throughout the process such as taking standardized tests, writing essays for schools, and the most nerve-racking part of it, student interviews. Fortunately, I was accepted by a school that I wanted to go to, and I am going to that school in the fall. I never expected all these because all the decisions were being made really quickly by myself and my parents, and they all happened pretty rapidly.
To be honest, I probably didn’t expect most parts of my current life, but my life turned out to be better than what I had imagined as a child. I have almost everything I wanted to achieve and to have, and the most important thing is that I have distinct goals that I want to accomplish. Having a goal is really important because it can lead me to a better self and to a “new self” that I could not imagine right now.