Worth it.

The physiotherapist told me...

"No more than 10 minutes at a time increasing to 30 minutes over a period of 7-10 days." 

I may not have paid any attention to that.  

I may in fact have simply launched myself back into playing with verve and vigor and the first day played for an hour...or maybe two.  Then I may have spent the next day and a half moaning about the ache in my shoulder, picking up the cello while looking around guiltily for any witnesses, playing for 15 minutes, putting it back on its stand again, and moaning some more.

Worth it.  

When I picked up my cello again, it all came back to me.  I found the practising I had done in my head while not being able to play had actually STUCK.  That the bow hand exercises I had cursed at every time I dropped the bow, had actually worked.  Music that I had been reading like it was a trashy novel leaped to life.  I could hear the difference in the way I sounded.  I could feel the confidence in my bow hold and the way I moved it across a string.  I learnt so much by NOT playing.  More than I realised I needed to learn.  It was like taking a breath after you have been holding it for awhile.

Worth it.

The break from playing was hard.  It was forced.  I resented it.  I may have hurt physically, I may have despaired mentally, I may have felt longing like I had separated from my love...

but it was all...

so...

very....

WORTH IT.