The water is never as cold as you expect.

by Amy Ferguson

It was a cold and dreary day in Scotland, like many others in the month of February. Spring had not yet sprung. The air was cold and thick with fog. We were preparing our students for their final performance exams.

One student asked: “Do you get nervous, Miss? Before you play, I mean?”

"No."

The truth? Yes.

I was scared. I still am. A Music teacher that gets nervous before a performance? What would my students think of me? What does that say about me as a professional?

Our greatest learning comes from mistakes. The science doesn’t lie - cognitive dissonance is our brain’s way of processing new information. If we did everything right all the time, we would learn nothing. Mistakes force us to learn, change and grow.

We are humans. We make mistakes. We laugh, we cry, we get nervous and we get scared. When we show our students this side of us, it gives them permission to be humans too. We show them that it is ok to get things wrong. It’s ok to stumble and fall because, when we pick ourselves back up again, we are stronger, braver and closer to ourselves. We are more human when we admit we don't have all the answers, when we show others that we are just trying our best. That's all we can ever do.

Years later, I had a similar conversation. This student was exceptionally anxious about her final performance.

She said: “Do you get nervous, Miss?”

I took a deep breath and sighed. "Yes. All the time. Everyone gets nervous - even me. It’s not about the mistakes we play - it is about how we recover and move on. "

I try to tell my students that I make mistakes as often as I can, but I still need to draw a breath beforehand. You stand at the edge of a pool of water. Your toes touch it, tesing its tepidness. You jump, before your rational brain talks you out of it. You are suspended in mid-air. You have jumped, but you are yet to land. You take a deep breath and prepare for impact.

The water is never as cold as you expect.