In sixth grade, I distinctly remember a classmate looking at my legs in disgust. "They're so hairy," he said. That's when I learned that the natural way that the hair grows on my body is unacceptable.

By seventh grade, I had corrected this egregious violation of American female beauty standards. A couple of girls asked me (why?), "Do you shave your legs?"

"Yes," I said.

"Does your mom know?" was the follow-up question (why?).

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At Eclectic Music, we have a saying: “No blind items!”

A blind item that would appear in a gossip column might sound something like, “Which married sixty-something financier was seen stepping out with young actress from a well-known film franchise?”

In our office, we've got our own version, which might go along these lines: “What do we do when a parent is asking to move their six-year-old student from thirty-minute lessons to hour-long lessons, but the teacher doesn’t want to?”

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The first time I taught a piano lesson, I had never taught a piano lesson before.

After I taught that lesson, I was a piano teacher. And then I taught more lessons, until I eventually reached a threshold of being an experienced piano teacher.

I wasn't exceptionally good at the beginning, but I was good enough. And that, in fact, was all that was necessary. I’m grateful that people asked me to teach them piano so that I didn’t have to put myself out there. I’m not sure I would have done it.

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The best advice I have is this: simplify.

If you don’t have any problems, you might not need this advice. That’s great! Otherwise, simplify.

You can reduce physical clutter in your physical environment. You can strip away the emotions from a decision that ultimately doesn’t require them. You can do less, slow down, and eliminate tasks, projects, and routines from your life.

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I dreamed that there was some kind of apocalyptic event that was dramatically changing society (a different one than the one that actually did, I guess), and I was attempting to leave an apartment in the city and head out to the country (I think to be better positioned to live life off the grid?).

Even though the logic of the dream was not exactly solid, I remember feeling conflicted. I was aware that what was most important for my old life (laptop, phone, nice clothes) was not relevant for my new life. I also didn’t know whether I’d ever be back. If my trip was just temporary, I needed to spend more time preparing my space instead of just abandoning it.

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