Five Days of Labor

This man is playing a banjo he made from scratch. He made it in a Banjo Making class at the John C Campbell Folk School. As we listened to him sing a traditional Canadian folk song, it hit me that the instrument he was playing did not even exist five days earlier. Through hard work, guidance, the right tools and persistence he created an amazing thing, he created music and brought life to every member of the audience.

Five days of labor. What could you do to change the world – change YOUR world – with only five days of concentrated effort? The possibilities are endless, if you are willing to allow yourself to be frustrated, ignorant, confused, tired, hungry, even more tired and maybe a bit more frustrated. Working that hard and that focused means other things in your world need to be put to the side. You might not know all the news, be up to date on your favorite shows or movies, be able to talk much with friends, and you certainly would not have enough time to keep up with social media.

Are you willing to do what it takes to change your world in five days? Are you willing to disconnect and focus long enough to create something from nothing? Do you have enough courage to work that hard on something with no assurance that it will all work out? It takes guts to change things. It takes courage and perseverance to endure hard work and frustration until the end goal is in sight. And it takes support with lots of compassion from the people in your life who live with you working so focused and disconnected for five days.

It is all worth it. As a member of the audience watching this guy sing a folk song on an instrument he built in five days, I was inspired. It opened my mind to believe that anything is possible with five days of effort.