WFMW: Learning New Skills

I will be the first to admit — I don’t usually like to try new things. I like routine, and I get nervous trying things when I don’t know what to expect. I also can’t seem to figure out things just by reading about them. This fact only makes me wonder how in the world I was able to get not one, but two degrees from a nice university.

Anyway — with that said — I will tell you what has been working for me the last couple of years: I have been trying (gasp) new things. I am thinking that, perhaps, it was turning 30 that changed me. Or, maybe I just got tired of wanting to try things and not doing it.

And, so I have been trying to do the things I have wanted to do. I now cook more than I used to, and I try making things that I would have never tried making before. Because…darn it…what’s the worst that can happen? I’ll make it, and we won’t like it. Well…then I just won’t make that again.

And, speaking of food — I started a garden last year, even though I had never had one before and didn’t know anything about it. I just got a book and gave it a go. It has been so rewarding! Although, it sure was funny the first year when we told people all the different things we were growing. They would look at us like we were insane. And, then I would say, “Since we don’t know about gardening and have never gardened before, we just thought we would try a little of a lot of different things to see what we enjoyed.” I got a lot of, “Oh — well that’s a great idea!” And, you know what? It worked! We were able to see that while we liked gardening and wanted to do it again, there were things we never wanted to grow again! LOL

But, the more exciting thing to me is the crafty things I have been learning. In just the past few months, I have been learning to sew (which is something I have been dying to do for YEARS), make jewelry, and make soap. And, guess what? I love them all! These are all things I thought would be fun, but thought, “I don’t want to invest the time or money, and I couldn’t do it anyway.” Well…I just bought a little bit to start in any new venture, and then decided if I liked it or not. I will admit — I tried making some jewelry with resin, and I failed miserably. So, then I tried again. And, I still failed. And…um…yeah, okay…I’ll say it — I tried one more time. I really did think I could do it. Guess what? I couldn’t. But, that’s okay, because now instead of looking at a cool bottlecap necklace I own and thinking, “Maybe I could make something like that,” I can think, “I’m glad I bought this, and I have no desire to try to make one like it.” LOL

Whether you succeed or you don’t succeed, if you try an art or craft or something completely different that you have been wanting to try, then you will know if you actually like it or not. You will no longer have to desire after it — you will know you want to do it more or you will know that it’s nothing you want to invest your time and money into. You just might find something that you love to do! (And, if you follow my suggestion of just buying a minimal amount of things to start out, you hopefully won’t be out too much if you hate it!)

Oh…and even though I have been trying all kinds of new things, I will admit that I have now had my eye on polymer clay. I have seen too many cool things on Etsy to not give it a try. But, alas — buying some things to give it a go will have to wait. But, darn it — I *will* try it.