have always wanted to play jazz piano, but it is absolutely impossible at my age to reach a level of proficiency that would satisfy me
Again if you don’t want to learn jazz piano, absolutely fine - I just honestly don’t get why not even try. But maybe you just need a couple more years to let go of to hard expectation for your self and just try it out. Worst case you learned to play piano worse than you would like to.
See, that’s the thing though. That’s not the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is while I’m doing that I’m forgoing time and energy that is so limited now and could be better spent spending time with my family, or keeping up with housework, or even just resting to prepare for the job that makes everything else possible. For many people, especially as their energy reduces over time, the sheer number of demands that come with age do not provide for “what the heck, let’s try it” with any regularity. I appreciate the thought, but when capacity is limited everything comes with an opportunity cost.
Again if you don’t want to learn jazz piano, absolutely fine - I just honestly don’t get why not even try. But maybe you just need a couple more years to let go of to hard expectation for your self and just try it out. Worst case you learned to play piano worse than you would like to.
See, that’s the thing though. That’s not the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is while I’m doing that I’m forgoing time and energy that is so limited now and could be better spent spending time with my family, or keeping up with housework, or even just resting to prepare for the job that makes everything else possible. For many people, especially as their energy reduces over time, the sheer number of demands that come with age do not provide for “what the heck, let’s try it” with any regularity. I appreciate the thought, but when capacity is limited everything comes with an opportunity cost.