“If I could forget about music I would.”

i have thought about this article, “Redemption of a Lost Prodigy” by Alex Vadukul, since reading it. it’s about saul chandler, who was a child prodigy in violin, but gave it up. i can’t even find the exact part that gets me, but just the idea of losing oneself, starting over, letting go:

But when Mr. Chandler turned 16, the pressures of producing excellence consumed him, and he had a nervous breakdown that derailed his career. He estranged himself from classical music and in an act of reinvention legally changed his name. He would lead a circuitous life that has since involved running a seedy hotel in Times Square, a successful career in mathematics and dramatic voyages at sea. Thirty years ago he started building boats on City Island, where he found peace on its waters. “I don’t want to be remembered for who I was,” he said. “Because I ended up doing a lot of other great things in my life, too. People here know me for who I am now.”