Mental fitness is crucial for anyone to live a pleasing lifestyle full of happiness and peace. However, in order for people to obtain a mentally fit mindset, it is essential to include a mental discipline into their regiments by exercising to improve mental capacity and coordination. I feel that one of the best mentally apt activities for the brain is to learn how to play a musical instrument.

In equivalence to other activities such as practicing martial arts or playing a difficult level on a video game, an instrument takes a lot of time and effort to learn and eventually master. It teaches one of the most important kinds of mental disciplines: perseverance. Learning to play an instrument trains the mind to push on through difficulty to achieve a goal.

But besides teaching perseverance, an instrument also enhances different parts of the brain. For instance, to remember how an instrument is played, what parts of it to play at different times and the tempo to play it at, increases memory capacity. Focusing on key aspects such as pitch and rhythm sharpens concentration. Listening to how music sounds and how each note plays in accordance to each other creates better listening skills. Different kinds of instruments expose people to different cultures. In total, playing an instrument increases cognitive skills.

The positives of learning a musical instrument makes it ideal for everyone to play one, including children to develop their cognitive skills, and adults to keep their brains mentally healthy and active.

Since there are other mentally pertinent activities to do, such as martial arts, video games, and outdoor activities which also stimulate the mind, what makes a musical instrument stand out in a better light? It focuses its strengths on the human mind whereas martial arts and outdoor activities focus more on human physicality. When it comes to the wellness of a human being, I feel it is a mind over matter to be the best someone can be. Video games also stimulate the mind, but they do not teach the amount of perseverance like an instrument does.

From personal experience, I can say that an instrument has benefited me in a better way, since I have felt perseverance to try and play new and more difficult musical measures and keep my mental cognition as well kept as I can.