OCTOBER 2024
On October 16, 2024, I spent my 1.000th (!) day with the JG Community and I decided, this finally might be a good starting point for some reflection on my guitar journey.
1.000 days, 41d read time 
, might lead to the assumption, thereās nothing else in my life going onā¦ I assure everyone, there is!
There must be something about this community I joined almost three years ago - it has become my guitar home base, kind of my guitar living room, my anchor in days of joy and frustration along the road 
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So first of all let me say āThank youā all for being such a great motivating and supporting place! Iām sure, it was one of my best decisions to join the group back in the days and a big part for my daily motivation 
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What this Log should be
I think, after finishing Grade 3 by the end of August, a new period of consolidation has begun and I certainly think, this probably could be a potentially critical point of loosing direction, so I decided, noting my self reflection and thoughts might help me to stay on track. More about that later.
I will for sure write about my journey and progress, but probably wonāt go too much into detail.
But there are so many things Iām thinking about during this journey, so many thoughts coming along, I would love to share and also discuss with others, so please feel free at any time to comment. Iām always interested what others think,so donāt hold back!
About me and my way so far
For those, who donāt know me already, Iām Andrea from Germany, I live in the very south part of the repuplic, close to the Alps, never had enough time to learn an instrument. Until 11/2020 my life consisted from all those well known committments (work, family, etc.) and all my spare time was filled with various outdoor activities and sports.
Out of a sudden, in November 2020, I got a cancer diagnosis (super aggressive tumor) during a medical examination and my life changed dramatically within seconds. I went through a full cancer treatment during the worst time of the pandemic, which made things even worse, until August 2021, and thanks to my good physical constitution, I returned to ārealā life very fast.
Needless to say, I had some time during this period to reflect on things (oh, yes!) I would love to do in my ānewā life and it was such a ānow or neverā decision starting to learn guitar. Within a few days, I ordered all the needed equipment and luckily enough, I found Justinās programm immediately and started out in September 2021 without the illusion to ever become an accomplished player. I thought, just a few chords would be key to play some songsā¦
Oh my! How wrong have I been (not concerning the accomplished player!!) to think, learning to play guitar would just be a new hobby, just something to try out and very likely to struggle and finally quit.
I never expected Justinās programm to be so well structured and motivating! Within a few days in, I was ADDICTED 
! It was a bit like a āhoneymoonā, I couldnāt keep my hands of my guitar (-s) anymore and felt a big, big motivation to move through the first modules.
So, I made my way through Grades one and two, slowly but consistantly, facing incredible feelings of joy and satisfaction as well as frustration, to be honest, but with a firm belief in my capability to actually learn to play the instrument.
This was so much more than expected 
! Guitar had become a life changing experience, a totally new life style, a source of constant inspiration and a remedy for all my inner fears, doubts and pain.
I canāt emphasize enough, how much Justinās programm and course adds to my personal wellbeing until today. Playing and singing, well guided along with the course have such a great positive impact on my life. Iām very, very greatful and canāt thank Justin and team enough for being a constant help and source of positiveness.
I was on cloud 9! At least, I thoughtā¦
Then in early 2023 fate kicked in again, various further health issues occured (enough for a whole lifetime) with countless medical appointments and treatments and a COVID infection finally led to the result of a major physically Fatigue Syndrome. Since then, my daily power resources have shrinked to an absolute limit, compared to a battery, I maybe have up to 25% of my former capacity on a good day.
Why do I note this? My current situation infects simply everything. Family, working, the chores, sports, social life and of course also my guitar learning ambitions. It puts everything into relation.
Whenever I get upset about my progress or find myself frustrated, why things to learn sometimes take me an insane amount of time - Iā d like to poke myself and shout: "Hey buddy! You made it all the way through Grade 3, you practiced almost every day with joy for three years, thatās more than you ever expected, when you started out 
- keep on, donāt give up, enjoy every moment with your guitars and SMILE 
!!!
And thatās what Iām doing now. Started a longer consolidation period on Grade 3 after the holidays in September and allowed myself to bounce around between a few subjects, whilst working on fixing loose endsā¦
With this in mindā¦
(Source: Blues Cluster, somewhere on Facebook)
To be continuedā¦ 
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and now consolidate that very big thing 
. I find this decision to be really hard. Will write about this in one of the next entries. I started this log in the hope, writing things down will lead me to the lightā¦ 
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