Making good crucial decisions quickly in high pressure situations is a skill. It's a skill I really need to improve. As a perfectionist, I require a LOT of information before I can make a decision, trying to make sure I make the best decision when all is said and done. But life isn't like that; life is never "all said and done". So I need to learn how to make faster decisions that will at the very least have a positive effect, knowing that there will always be something I don't know, and that a better decision could have been made. I try to encourage myself by realizing that even in my 'bad' decisions, I learn something, and learning is growth, and growth is always positive. In fact, we should always pursue growth over singular definitive accomplishments. Hopefully that will encourage you too.

 

Today's song was extracted from a Ballet I was writing in 2007. It was to be a modern ballet for Encore Dance Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but I ended up moving out of state before we were able to complete or perform it. Spoiler alert: some of the other songs from that ballet appear on Volume Three of PROLIFIC.

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The story of the ballet was about a little boy whose mother had died and left him this ballerina music box. At the start of the ballet, the little boy winds up the box and lets it play for a minute when magically the ballerina that spun atop the box comes to life and steps off the pedestal. She then leads the boy through a fantastical hybrid kingdom of medieval times and modern days as the boy grows up. One night, while at a ball, the boy sees and falls in love with a girl named Edina during a waltz, called Edina's Waltz (please enjoy the song, and forgive the old production value). Of course, the night is ruined by a villain that kidnaps Edina, abruptly ending the ball. But the boy, whose once broken faith has been rebuilt by his interactions with the magical ballerina muse, makes a split second decision to chase after the villain, determined to rescue Edina from his clutches. This is the song of that pursuit.

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What split-second decisions have been defining moments in your life? Email me and share your story!