What does it look like to be a beginner? Clumsy? Failing. Falling? All those things. Think about when you either learned to ride a bike or when you taught a child to ride a bike – weren’t you/they a mess on wheels? I fell over and over on my rainbow banana seat bike in 1976. I was so gosh darned determined to get it I just kept getting on and falling over. It was messy and amazing to feel that crazy power to master something, but the process was anything but Instagram ready. That is what being a beginner is like – failing and falling – and that is what life is like. (I’m on the right in the photo with the killer overall shorts in about 1976.)
The Beginner Lifestyle
I want to be a beginner in my life. I want to get excited and frustrated over learning new things and relish in the newness of it all. When I first started to bake bread for my family 26 years ago my first loaf was a rock. A literal rock. I had never made bread before and just had some hippie dippy cookbook that said use whole wheat flour, yeast, honey and water. There were no real measurements and no times. It was beautifully hand drawn, but lacked in some basic instructions. I didn’t know how long to knead it or how long to let it rise. I wasn’t sure how much of anything to use and how long to bake it. I’d never made bread or seen it made – I was just determined. First a rock, then a crumbly brick of bread, then a gooey mess that probably would have gummed up our intestines if we had tried to eat it. Then something more edible, but not great. Experiment after experiment that my husband lovingly tried time after time until, finally, I mastered making bread. It was so good I could make his sandwiches for work out of it and it sliced perfectly. It took months of experiments before that could happen. Months of being a beginner.
Now I’m writing poetry. I’ve written off and on over the years, but now I want to master my voice in this very short form. Unlike bread I have no idea if they are good or bad on my own. I just send them out to be published and they are rejected. Does that mean they are bad? No. Not really. Just not what they are looking for at that publication or opportunity. I just keep writing and learning to find my way just like I did when I worked at riding the bike. (It is #OctPoWriMo if you want to write a poem a day in October.)
Being a beginner means being free and #RealHappy
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I encourage you to have beginner moments; to try new things and keep trying them. There is a lightness to our lives when we can learn to master something or when we practice something. We may not be able to be the children we were, but we can enjoy moments of not having to be an expert at all the things.
Your life might not look like an Instagram feed, but maybe if we filled up Instagram with #RealHappy moments that looked like our real lives instead of trying to be polished and perfect all of the time we would encourage others to try something new. The Beginner Lifestyle could release you from always having to do the same things or look perfect when you are trying something for the first time – you know… to really live your life one cool experience after another. If you could try ANYTHING new what would it be? I’d love to know.
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