I was recently given two hand-me-down cast iron skillets. Apparently, when you have a glass cooktop, heavy cast iron might scratch it. So, lucky me!

The skillets were kinda rusty and yucky when I received them, but I dutifully followed the instructions for seasoning that I found somewhere on the Internet. Voilà! I couldn’t believe how beautiful they were when I took them out of the oven. They were like new.

The seemingly magical renewal of this cookware exceeded my expectations and got me thinking about the ways in which we humans take care of ourselves (or don’t).

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There are two problems that we have with time (okay, there are probably more, but let me just sound like I know what I’m talking about).

The first is the day-to-day struggle of having enough time to fit things into our schedule. The second is the long-term struggle of feeling like it’s too late to start — that life has passed us by.

Both of these problems are illusory. They are based on feelings — that is, emotions and perceptions — rather than reality. And conveniently, they are both solved the same way.

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As I look over my misspent life — in those moments when it feels like I’ve had a misspent life — I can come up with a long list of things I wish I had done, and nagging regrets about the things I did.

Some of these things are impossible to do anything about (damn biological clock), but some of them are things I can begin to resolve today, if I would stop being so morose.

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I talk to so many people who express regret over not having learned to play a musical instrument.

However, this regret is not enough to lead them to learn one now. They feel as though it’s too late.

Well, sure, if you start learning piano today, you’re probably not going to catch up to Elton John. However, you may really enjoy learning how to play your first chords. Within weeks, you could be playing a version of “Rocket Man” that’s good enough to bring out at a family gathering.

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When people call my music school inquiring about lessons for adults, they often wonder in all sincerity if it’s even possible for them to learn. “I’m thirty-two. Is it too late for me to learn how to play the piano?”

Whenever I’m asked a question like this, I jokingly tell respond that they should’ve called a week earlier, and now it’s too late.

People get the “too late” idea from a misinterpretation of the research that shows that from the birth to age six, human beings have a much higher capacity for absorbing language and music. It’s during this time that children actually develop not only skill and knowledge in these areas, but the aptitude itself. In other words, they it’s not so much their ability but their potential ability that’s increasing. A child who has a lot of exposure to music during their formative years, then, will have increased potential in music as an adult.

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