Assingment 21 - Trip Church

One time I overcame an obstacle.

Last year in marching band, it was my first year playing snare drum.  It is typically a spot reserved for upperclassmen and better players, because it is loud and important to the whole band staying together.  Me and my friend Josh were the two new players, Ryan and James were the more experienced returning players.  I had been looking forward to this for all of high school, but it turned out to be much harder than i expected.  Band camp started, and I was excited to finally have a drum to play.  As the first day dragged on, my back really started to ache from carrying the drum for many hours without break - thanks scoliosis.  My feet also grew tired of marking time in place, with the extra weight of the drum.  Then my hands grew tired, I had never played so much.  After three weeks of misery, and progress, camp ended and school begin.  That's when it got even harder.
  Now I had to balance homework with practice, and it just made it even harder.  Also at this point in the season, mistakes were becoming less acceptable, but I wasn't improving fast enough to keep up.  I was getting roasted by peers, and facing the shame of knowing I was holding the group back.  (Looking back, I realize I probably wasn't, but it felt that way at the time).  I started staying up late to practice, getting extremely frustrated with myself.  I had good days, but I also had many bad days.  It reached a peak one morning before a competition, I was playing particularly poorly.  I couldn't say why - I still can't - but I was. The percussion director threatened to take the guts out of my drum if I didn't clean it up.  Removing the guts means the drum makes no sound, which in our "culture" would have been shameful.  It sounds silly, but It hurt to have that possibility weighing down on me.
  After that, i began to focus on doing what I had practiced, and things began to improve.  By releasing my anxiety, I started playing better, and before long, I was playing clean with the line, and I had overcome my obstacle.