Your ego was bruised by this individuals capabilities? Has it crossed your mind that this is the perfect opportunity to embrace a challenge to learn from this individual? See, competition is about drive, and motivation, but what is your agenda? Must you be perfect because you were abused as a child, or is your motivation to be perfect because you are passionate about the pursuit of excellence, that you wish to constantly go higher and higher because you love what you do?
If you do what you do because you feel you must, else your sense of self is injured and your identity threatened, then you have a lot to learn. That is not love or passion, that is fear. Fearing that you don’t matter, if you aren’t the best. Yet you will find an endless race with no end in site. You may master guitar and be the best in the world, but if you lack passion, you’ll merely move onto something else which will bring you pain, because then you must master that.
That is truly unfortunate that you see others as a threat. Who you are isn’t dependent on how well you play a guitar. Who you are is dependent on who you choose to be in relationship to other people. Are you respectful, loving, sincere, honest, trustworthy, compassionate, proactive, positive, dedicated, motivated in these pursuits? Are you pursuing character, or a reputation? For a man’s reputation is based on what others think of him, but a man’s character is based on what he thinks of himself.
Who do you want to be? A ghost chasing endless empty pursuits, which have no bona fide true passion, or activities which reflect a love of who you inherently are? The best of the best in the world, become the best, because it’s a reflect of who they are.
You aren’t what you do! You do what you are! Do you understand? No one who truly loves you will embrace you for the former.
Then it is clear you are controlled by your ego, losing both opportunities and the ability to create who you want to be, because of a limiting belief you hold. You think that you’ve learned to walk by yourself? That you’ve learned to use the toilet alone? Do you think that you’ve learned Mathematics, History, English, by your doing alone? Others have and others always will affect and impact your ability to learn, whether you wish to accept that or not. You can either deny yourself this truth, or exploit this truth and dwell in the immense information and knowledge that other people have to share. Reinventing the wheel is a foolish way to achieve success, when you can easily build on strong foundations laid by others before you.
Guitarists before, and after you will allow you to create (Note the word create) your music. Music is an art, it is not a science. You may learn rules, and theory — but the end result is not a matter of perfect science. It is the capacity to create using information that came from outside yourself. You’ve got a classic Les Paul guitar. Continue to play it but realize that you will always be influenced, and you can accept that consciously, or deny it consciously, but it will always remain the truth independent of your thoughts about it.
