All my life I've had this mindset where I think,
"If I'm not immediately good at something on my first try, then I might as well not try at all."
I fear failure. I avoid the process of practicing a skill to perfect it because I'm disappointed
that I'm not flawless on my first attempt. There are countless hobbies that I've given up
because it requires hours of effort to improve my craft, like water coloring, sketching, and yoga.
A goal of mine is to let go of this rigid perfectionist mindset that makes me gravitate
towards hobbies that I'm immediately good at or hobbies that require no real learning curve,
like, reading, journaling, or watching films. I want to try new things without letting myself
get consumed by the end result. I want to dive into hobbies and allow myself to be bad in the
beginning because, over time, I will improve and enjoy the journey I took to learn something new.
One thing that I've been slowly teaching myself is how to play the kalimba.
It's an instrument that I wanted to learn how to play for ages but always hesitated to
because I knew I wouldn't be able to play entire songs right off the bat.
It requires patience, a gentle touch, and lots and lots of starting over.
While I'm no master at it and I have a lot to learn, when I play the kalimba,
it's the only time that my anxiety quiets down and
I'm able to focus on playing without caring about messing up along the way.
When I play the instrument, I don't care if I'm making mistakes because
I'm genuinely enjoying having fun during every stage of the process.
So far, I've only learned a few songs,
but I cannot wait to learn more from some of my favorite movies and
shows. Another hobby that I picked up was embroidery.
While I don't see myself doing this hobby as often as others, I picked it up because I wanted
to craft a birthday present inspired by Summer Camp Island for my best friend without knowing
anything about embroidery beforehand. I was clueless as to where to start, so I turned to
Skillshare to gain some insight. Thank you so much to Skillshare for sponsoring this video.
I am such a big fan of Skillshare, which is an online learning community full of courses
on so many topics like film, photography, creative writing, productivity, and so much more for those
looking to develop some skills or try something completely new like I did with embroidery.
Skillshare has a class called "Painting with Thread: Modern Embroidery for Beginners" to
learn how to embroider and it was such a simple and effective class for complete beginners,
like me. It laid out the tools I needed, the stitches that are commonly used, and was a
quick course to teach myself a completely new skill in a handful of lessons that were easy
to follow. If you are interested in joining Skillshare to try out new hobbies, like me,
the first thousand of you to click the link in my description will get two free months of
Skillshare premium to try out for yourself. New classes are always being added to their
site and there's always something new to learn, so if you want to continue your membership, it
will be less than ten dollars a month. Thank you so much to Skillshare for sponsoring this video.
Something else that I wanted to tackle without letting doubt consume me was sewing my own
clothing. After discovering Rachel Maksy's channel where she sewed such gorgeous outfits for herself,
I was inspired to do the same. I had taken about five years of fashion classes in school,
so I know how to sew but this was my first time creating a piece of clothing from scratch by
following a pattern. So, I thrifted some fabric from Goodwill for five dollars,
bought a pattern off of Etsy, and dove into this project with the great help of my friend
Charlotte, who talked me through every step of the process, because I was terrified of messing up.
Some mistakes can be seam ripped, but others are permanent.
This was an exhaustive, frustrating process that tested my skills and patience, but I was so eager
to learn how to make my own clothes that my own spite propelled me forward to complete this piece.
I did end up paying a tailor to sew my own buttonholes because I simply could not figure out
how to sew them on my own, but other than that, this piece was made with my own blood, sweat,
and tears and that isn't an exaggeration because I definitely pricked myself by a pin more times than
I can count. While the skirt is not perfect and I can definitely improve on future sewing projects,
I'm incredibly proud of the fact that I can say I made my own skirt. I taught myself a vast array of
skills to get to this end product and I'm so glad that I dove into this project because it is so
satisfying to hold something that you created all on your own. It's not perfect but it's mine.
These past few months, I have been slowly letting go of my inner critic that has previously stopped
me from trying new things because I was afraid of not reaching these impossibly high standards
that I set for myself as a type 1 who wants to be immediately good at everything and anything.
These activities provided me with a new outlet for my creativity,
while also teaching me a lesson in patience passion, and persistence.
I have always been afraid of trying new things, but I'm slowly learning to let
go of that fear because, once you do, you're able to open up so many doors for
yourself that were previously closed, and I'm so glad that I stepped through them...
and I encourage you all to do the same
you