The Gardens At Monroe was the first location where I played. I'll admit, I was nervous because I haven't played my instrument in front of an audience before. When my dad and I arrived, we brought our stuff and proceeded inside the building where we met a large audience of elderly folks. It was daunting; I couldn't imagine having that many eyes looking at me all at once. After I set up my instrument and music stand, I looked at my dad and told him I wasn't ready for this. Hoping to get out of this, my gut sank when my dad told me "this is the first step". Picking up my instrument, I then gave a low effort speech (I barely mentioned my cause, and why I was there!).

I went straight into playing the songs; staring into my sheet music and avoiding eye contact with the audience. My musical mistakes began to show and gradually became more obvious throughout the performance. However, I knew Om would want me to continue playing so, I did. I got through playing all of the songs that I wanted to, but now I had to do another task: give a concluding speech. Rather than delivering a heart-felt speech, I said "Thank you, and Happy New Year", and started packing up. Despite all of this, my audience seemed to be happy with my performance, with one of them saying "I really enjoyed your music". When my dad and I left, I reflected on my performance and I knew there was much more to come.