I never really put much thought into how I learned things when I was younger. I have no memories of learning how to crawl, walk, run but I do have memories of learning how to read.
For me, it was really hard.
Fast forward over 30 years later and I now read really well. I don’t ‘feel’ that struggle anymore. I am glad I remember the hard and although I now know how it could have been made easier the biggest ‘good’ of it was that I can feel empathy for my children when they struggle to learn something new.
Lately, I have been doing a series of personal challenges and going through the hard.
As my main hobby is making quilts I have rarely gone outside of that ‘skill set’. Sure, I have done embroideries and some drawing but I haven’t really felt the hard in a long time.
Then I decided to do Youtube videos……I had tricked myself into thinking that the picking up of the camera and pressing record was the hard part. Ha!
Editing. Editing AND making it look good is REALLY (times about 63) HARD. I have wondered when I will ‘unsuck’ at it. When I will laugh….remembering the good olde days.
Learning new things as an adult is hard. At least for me it is.
I also have the added bonus of 1. Not much confidence in myself. 2. Going from wanting to do one thing to wanting to also be fluent in French and repointing of roofs like a boss. All or nothing…not good!
This is where single tasking can really be challenged.
I have 10 children to care for each day, a shift working husband, personal issues I am dealing with, hobbies I enjoy, habits I have (both good and bad) and then piling on top of other ‘things I want to become good at’ like gardening, home renovating, learning the key board and whatever else I cant remember right now….can become overwhelming.
So, what is my solution?
I will still maintain my desires to learn new things (even if they are hard) but I will also remember these few things:
- Personal success: I HAVE achieved a lot of hard things (working through childhood trauma, decluttering my entire home single handedly AND maintaining it! Learning ‘techie’ things….no matter how little, I’m still proud of myself!)
- Consolidating: No longer having loose pieces of paper with my ideas or lists or ‘plans’. I would invariably shove these in the bookcase at the end of the day and end up decluttering them.
Now I have ONE notebook where I can have my lists, or ideas or things I want to remember (added bonus is that it makes me forget about perfection!) Mostly….. - Rest: Pushing myself, MAKING myself get up at a certain time of day has no longevity for me. It doesn’t take into account being sick, how many times I have gotten up for the baby, or child, or snoring husband etc in the night. Giving myself grace has been a healing thing for me AND helpful to my productivity.
- Incremental forward movement: Even one small step forward IS a step forward. Not all the steps have to happen at one time. This is the biggest thing I tell myself.
So there you go. Just some thoughts I have. I have felt lately that I have kind of lost my pep but that’s ok. In the meantime I will keep taking steps forward.
What’s something you have been learning lately? How do you get through the hard of things?
Lastly, I try to really think about the different things I want (or think I want) to do/learn/be. Self assessment IS a good thing. Even if it is hard.
