Me Thinks

 This article title caught my eye:

"Resolve to Be Bad at Something This Year."

New year resolutions are typically about getting better at something, whether it’s physical fitness or another language. But when you choose to be bad at something, you get to experience the joy of being an amateur in the classical sense. 

An amateur works on a skill because she loves something about how grappling with the problem changes her.  

“I don’t know this” isn’t a closed door, but an invitation to exploration. It’s a hard idea to hold onto, if you’re used to only doing what you do well.

But today, when we seem to compete with everyone everywhere, it’s tempting to shift to being a consumer, not a creator. It’s easy to find something better than what you could do yourself, and therefore shrug and not even try.

It’s much less tempting to take the time to be bad at something, in order to know that thing deeply. 

We all face the temptation to turn away from the invitation to exert maximum effort toward a dubious end. But it’s the small experience of being bad at things, repeatedly, and finding something of worth on the other side that lets us trust it’s worth struggling when the stakes are high.

I’m not suggesting that you try to do everything badly. All I ask is that you pick something to be bad at, and a friend who will help by watching you being bad at it.

It’s easy to look at the glossy, photoshopped and auto-tuned output of our social-media feeds and think no one is an amateur anymore. Everyone is a student of the people around them; make sure you’re teaching others that the only people who aren’t struggling are the ones who aren’t growing.

(https://www.deseret.com/2023/1/20/23550566/new-year-resolutions-amateurism-chatgpt) 

 

So how am I going to apply this?

I am going to quilt without worrying that my finished products are not masterpieces.

I am going to learn another piano piece this year even though it will take me months to learn it and memorize it.

I am going to try to enjoy the journey.

I am going to try a new recipe each month, knowing that some will be "hits" and some will be "misses."

I am going to freely admit that I am not good at certain things, but I will get back "in the ring" and keep trying.