Hey everyone, Dr. Maya Shankar here. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Wednesday. Today we're

going to talk about how we can forge a new path when obstacles get in our way. And I'll

share my personal story of how I found a new passion after a sudden injury ended my career

as a violinist. I learned a really valuable lesson from my mom about how to try to make

opportunities happen when they're not handed to you on a silver platter. Going back in time

to when I was nine years old, I had big dreams of becoming a concert violinist and my

mom who didn't have a lot of exposure to the Western classical music scene wasn't exactly

sure how to help her daughter reach those dreams. She knew one of my big goals was to apply

for the Juilliard School and we were walking by the building one day in New York and I had

my violin with me and my mom said, why don't we just go into the building? It's like, what

do you mean just go in? She's like, what's the worst thing that can happen? And I remember

thinking security guards, that's one thing mom. But we waltzed into the building uninvited,

unannounced. And my mom struck up a conversation with a mother and her daughter in the elevator

and simply asked them if I could audition for her violin teacher after her lesson was

over. And it was amazing, you know, the kindness of strangers. They said yes and, you know,

half an hour later, I was playing for this teacher who eventually brought me on for

a summer boot camp and got me into shape to actually pass the Juilliard audition in

the fall. And so what I learned from that experience is sometimes you just have to jump in and

make the cold call or walk into the building. Years later, I had a sudden an injury after

which doctors told me I could never play the violin again. I just remember feeling really

despondent. Like there was nothing I was going to find that I loved as much as the violin or was good

at. And so I remember having a pretty closed mindset for a while is fairly closed off. And I needed

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