All Is Creative: Learn New Skills, Embrace Personal Growth.

So you’ve always wanted to learn guitar, but never took the steps. or your friends have been trying to get you into rock-climbing or yoga and you’re interested but never quite make the jump for whatever reason. or perhaps you wanna do something subtler like break through shyness of some kind or just initiate conversation with strangers more.

many of us have been there: sitting with all kinds of hopes, dreams, interests and desires, all remaining unfulfilled for whatever reason. It is important to note, that this is a choice, and it is changeable.

much of what i teach touches on child-like characteristics or behaviours we may have abandoned since childhood, and for good reason. it is true their are certain childish ways to be done away with, but it is generally not prudent to throw the ‘baby out with the bathwater’ ( unless of course the baby is being annoying and crying and stuff and the bathwater is filthy ) — children are at home with themselves, and ready to learn just about anything they truly desire to learn. the lesson to remember here, is do not let your fears stop you from learning a ‘new’ skill.

what are some common fears? “i won’t ‘get it’ or be good enough,” “if i fail i’ll look foolish or stupid and others will make fun of me,” “this will be a waste of my time or ‘nothing’ will come of it.”

i believe my father felt this way towards public speaking some time ago, and since then he’s been a teacher, a lecturer, and he is still asked to speak in all kinds of venues and is lauded for his connected and powerful communications and teachings.

have you ever felt this way? i have. i felt this way about dancing for a long time, when it came down to it, i was afraid of looking foolish and not being good enough (had a bit of a perfectionist streak at the time.) now, some years later, i am fine with it, and simply choose not to engage in it very often. usually its on the street or in my house, and sure i could stand to learn some actual techniques like ballroom or salsa — and i will, when the time is right. when i am not putting so much energy and focus into my creativity and art and this blog. that is my main drive and desire lately, and that is really what should guide one towards learning new skills: not fears pushing you away from things, but allowing your desires to drive you past/through the fear you may feel.

i won’t ‘get it’ or be good enough:

sometimes we are naturally gifted with an innate talent for a certain skill, and sometimes the one’s that do not come easy are dismissed with phrases like the one above. thoughts like that are self-judging and essentially predicting the future. stop judging yourself. if you find yourself thinking that way, go ahead and make a choice, choose to stop it right now. if we examine things we’ve done in the past, it often becomes apparent that many of our skills took quite some time to build up (think riding a bike or swimming or something,) and if we’d held the attitude of “i’ll never understand this” then of course we would’ve stopped trying and it would’ve become a self-fulfilling prophecy. the cliche of “never say can’t,” while kind of bland to hear parroted over and over, holds a lot of water. (yes, a cliche to describe a cliche, i love it

i might fail and look foolish:

first of all, yes, you *might* fail in an endeavour, but its just as possible that you *might not.* anything could happen, a stranger could swoop in and help, an undiscovered/unknown talent could flourish, or you could end up being waaaaay better than you were when you last tried it, simply because you’ve grown and become a different person.

secondly, if you’re surrounded by people who judge someone harshly as they are in the process of learning and growing, perhaps take that as a wonderful wake up call to learn-in-front-of / associate with a different crowd…

thirdly, look at anyone who is considered ‘good’ at a certain thing, they have almost certainly failed once, and likely many times, as they practiced and developed it. awesome guitar players have generally missed fingerings more than we know. great artists tend to have tons of junk sketches, old works, and tossed away doodles. athletes almost always end up injuring themselves in pursuit of their craft.

trying will be a waste of time:

for most of my teens and early 20s, i believed that “renting was a waste of time” and that “bothering to rent was like throwing away money.”

how did i end up renting then? i just tried it.

when i made that decision, i was spending 10 hour work days in hard, physical labour at a warehouse across town. i spent 2.5 hours getting there and 2.5 hours getting back home for a total of 15 hour work days, and that’s only if work didn’t end up going late. i just barely made time for my girlfriend and family and friends at the time, which is fine but it was often by sacrificing food, sleep, or… dare i say it… showers i was prone to getting sick, i was pretty miserable, and life was telling me rather strongly that the situation had to change.

so i took some of my paycheck and rented a place closer to work. i chose to engage in the action i had previously judged as a waste of time.

not only did renting close to work relieve tons of burden from me time & travel wise, it taught me a ton of things about living on my own, gave me more self-confidence and self-reliance, and opened up cooking as an artform when i realized i was responsible for my own groceries + recipes with the resources around me. learning these valuable things has helped me realize the strong force in life i always have been, but chose not to acknowledge. a few hundred a month for rent in trade for priceless self-discovery and realization of who i really am? that deal is a no-brainer when i look back on it. during the time though i fought it tooth and nail, remaining miserable for as long as i could manage. hah

it was not necessary for me to take the route i did, there are easier ways. my desire is for others to benefit from the easier ways, heed my words, and embrace things sooner, rather than later – you may find it most certainly was anything but a waste of time.

so, am i practicing what i preach?

some people realize their full worth from the beautiful near-perfection reached from specializing in one thing, some are more jack of all trades-types. the latter are often considered ‘master of none’ but we can look to leonardo da vinci’s renaissance-man skill-set and note his high degree of competency. for myself, my range of talents are broad, growing, and i intend for that to continue throughout my life.

recently i’ve taken steps towards improving my martial arts/sparring/body awareness with my brother drew — which if i’d never tried, i’d never have realized i have a strong natural aptitude for and it feels great.

i’ve also been getting into creating DJ sets with my brother nick, combining my tremendous taste and broad library with the flare for composing and blending things into a unified work — which is an awesome art in its own right.

on the horizon i’m hoping to create my own music as well, and who knows what doors that will open.

i’m also learning tons about creativity (and i intend to help others do the same,) the web, and ‘business.’

anyone have anything to contribute? a story? a wish? a “j i hate you and your articles?”

what do you want to learn?

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Tags: all is creative, growth, learn, skills