but.. if that’s what they want.. and it makes them happy.. is it really a sacrifice?
doing something great will require all of you.. that thing will consume you.
Doing what you love is great, feels more like play than work.
Debussey was also loosely refering to all the things you can not do if you want to become world class at something.
Let us say that you are a world class violinist at 35. You love to practice, and you've done it practically every day since age 10.
From the time you were 14, you've practiced for an average of 3 hours per day, 6+ days per week (which is a very moderate assessment for a world class performer), which turns out to about 1000 hours per year not including time spent travelling back and fourth from your teacher.
If we include time travelled back and fourth from practice (teacher, orchestra ect) and administrative stuff regarding your training, lets add about 1 hour per "practice day".
Now, lets say that at 15 the kid is in high school. The kid leaves for school at 08:00 and comes home 15:00 every day. Homework is from 15:30 -> 1630. Dinner is at 1630, and the travel to playing practice starts at 17:30 -> 4H -> Home again 21:30. At this time the kid = pretty tired and ready for bed. This goes on monday - friday, sat = off, sunday = practice.
Even though the kid gets some slack during the weekends, you can see how packed the kids day becomes with school and practice. Not much time is left for friends, slacking off and the other stuff kids do. THIS is what Debussey means by the sacrifice, all the stuff that can not be done due to what you do (alternative cost).
After high school, the kid enters a high ranking music university, with classes all day and practice on top of that. The kid gets involved with an orchestra and time left after classes, practice and performing per week = very limited.
After the uni, the kid has turned into a mature world class performer, that lives and breathes his craft every day.
At this point, the person is probably living a very good life, doing what he truly loves and being of world class caliber within his field. At the same time, the kid has "missed out" on a lot of stuff other kids could do. In this case it probably did not matter that much, as crafting himself into a world class violin performer had a lot more value to the person than goofing off and drinking with his friends and feeling a ton of regret at 35.
If anything, this example shows why most people just never become great at anything. The average person is not talented enough, and the efforts needed to be put in is not something the normal person can even grasp. They probably think that the kid was just redicolusly talented and did not practice much, but they fail to see the years the kid spent grinding away to get good as his craft while they were out drinking and watching tv.
