An Inspiring Piano Playing Dog

     When I decided to start this blog, I was intentionally challenging myself. I knew, or at least had been told and was trying to believe, that writing is something I am pretty decent at. I thought a blog would be a great platform to encourage me to write on a regular basis, and give other people a way to read my writing and tell me what they think of it. So far the experience has been a positive one, and I am finding ways to improve myself as I go. For instance, I have learned that honesty is important, but there are some feelings I have that it would benefit me not to share with the world in such an unfiltered way. Finding that balance between honesty and over sharing is, in my opinion, helping me become a more mature writer.
 I have also learned that the hardest thing for me about writing on a regular basis is finding something to write about. Staying inspired in the midst of everyday life can be a challenge for me, especially finding subjects in my day to day life that are worth writing and reading about. I also can be very self critical when it comes to my writing, and I feel unsettled when I know I have written something that is mediocre in an attempt to "just keep writing" even when no inspiration comes
While at an art museum recently (college students are such delinquents and up to no good, huh?), I rediscovered the child in me that secretly enjoyed field trips to places like this far past the age when it was cool to admit it. There's just something about seeing the actual, physical artwork that catches my interest beyond the level of looking at a textbook. To counter my unbridled sarcasm at the beginning of this paragraph,which I hope you realized was just a cheap attempt at humor, I will admit that it was not an entirely self-motivated venture. I had a paper to write for a class which required me to go there, but I enjoyed it anyway. The point is, while there, I found something that inspired me. Among the many pieces of artwork I saw, I found a painting that is currently my favorite one in existence. Even it's title makes me happy "Portrait of an Extraordinary Musical Dog." I just love that someone had the idea to paint a picture of a dog who appears to be playing a piano, and the fact that they chose this clever title really makes me happy.

Naturally, I wanted to talk about my museum trip on my blog to some degree, because anything that's not an everyday event is usually a source of writing inspiration for me, and this painting kept coming to mind when I was deciding what to write. At first I thought it would be silly to admit that in this entire museum of historical works of art, a picture of a dog sitting at a piano was my favorite, and even sillier to write a blog post about it, but then I realized something.
     Maybe I shouldn't be so critical of the things that inspire me, in my writing and in my life. Yes, I want to be taken seriously and I do my best to write about things that are meaningful and have substance, but maybe inspiration can also be found in much simpler things. I think somewhere in the process of becoming an adult and wanting to be treated like one, I forgot that even adults don't have to be serious about everything all the time. Yes, I am growing up and learning how to be mature, and  I want my writing to reflect that, but there is still a piece of me that gets really excited over a piano playing dog, and I hope that piece never goes away.