“Why did you quit?” Two of my cousins asked me when they came to my house for a brief visit.

Shortly after their arrival, they insisted that I play a few pieces on the piano for them. However, I had stopped practicing piano several months before. I had no choice but to attempt a piece which I barely remembered how to play.

My performance of the first few pages was decent, but as the tempo of the music quickened, the quality of my interpretation deteriorated, and I was barely able to stagger to the end. When I struck the final chord, I knew that relative to what my playing should have been had I continued practicing, I had failed miserably.

Despite my obvious mistakes, my cousins applauded my mediocre performance as if it had been perfect. I had created disjointed gaps in the piece no listener could possibly miss, yet they said that my playing was “amazing” and that I obviously had talent. Of all their remarks, one stood out to me the most: “Why did you quit?”

I believe that the answer to that question is associated with excessive practicality. I stopped practicing piano because I probably would not achieve significant accomplishments such as winning awards.

In other words, I quit because in my estimation piano was not “valuable” enough in that it could not gain me merit. I stopped playing the piano, which I had actually enjoyed, because I thought I would not be the best at it.

Now I have realized that the issue at hand was not quitting, but in fact the reasons behind doing so. Stopping piano was not necessarily a mistake, but doing so simply because I could not win competitions was. My decision to quit this instrument was a flawed one.

Of course, weighing the academic benefits of activities does figure into almost all of the decisions which we students make. Taking merits into account is natural and appropriate when we are selecting courses or doing schoolwork.

However, when the desire for success controls our decisions to the point of threatening the extracurricular activities which we like, we should not let the chances of gaining recognition or the attitude of “don’t do it if you’re not going to be the best” prevent us from doing what we want. Sometimes, the simple feeling that we are doing what we like can be more valuable than an award or a higher test score made possible by time taken from the things we enjoy.

So pick up that instrument you wanted to play. Go and try out for that sport. Don’t let the fear that you won’t be the best stop you from doing what you want to do.