You’d think that as you got older, you’d know more, but I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I feel like I actually know less. If you think about it again, it’s not that crazy a notion; the more you learn, the more you realise there is to learn. Your simplistic preconceptions become tangled in complicated nuance. It would be naive to think you could possibly know everything about anything. But rather than let this be a disheartening challenge to overcome, let this gift be an opportunity to embrace.
Going into 2019, I’m sure that we’ve all thought about things we’d like to learn and new hobbies we’d like to take up. It’s easy to make these lists but it’s harder to follow through.
Sometimes you gotta give yourself the talk. (Is this what adulting is?) Here’s a no-nonsense guide to help you face the only thing that’s holding yourself back: yourself. There’s no hiding with these questions!
What do you want to do?
You gotta know what you wanna do if you wanna do it! There’s no need to outline a whole “SMART goal,” but if you’re finding it difficult to articulate what you want to do, it’s going to be even more difficult to focus on doing it.
Optional: Why?
Some might argue that this is the most important question and that it shouldn’t be optional. However, after realising the value of doing a hobby for the pure joy of it without having any goal in mind, I think that it’s okay to want to do a thing without having a reason besides that it brings you joy. Or perhaps that could be your “why” — because it brings you joy.
What steps are you taking to do it?
Perhaps you’ve been newly inspired to do the thing and haven’t started taking steps toward it. That’s fine. Or perhaps you’ve been thinking about doing the thing for months or years already, and you’re wondering why the thing hasn’t happened for you yet. Reality check: it isn’t going to happen unless you make it happen.
What excuses are you making?
Identify your problem points.
What steps could will you take to do it?
Target your problem points. Go down your list of excuses and shoot every one down. Along the way, you might discover a reason that is particularly resonate with you. As the wise sage Lady Gaga has said, you can find a million reasons to walk away (to not do something), but all you need is one good one to stay (to do it). Now your list of things to do isn’t a list of what should be done but how they can will be done.
There are so many reasons to be a life-long learner, both on the inspirational level and on the practical level. In short, for me, it’s to open myself to new experiences for a more enriching life. Every experience, no matter how small, makes you who you are, and the ways you pursue your goals show you more ways to understand the world.
Here are some things I want to learn and hobbies I want to take up in 2019:
- Drive and get my driver’s license.
- Knit and complete a scarf.
- Make and gift friendship bracelets.
- Experiment with graphic design by redesigning book covers. (I’ve started by making small illustrations to accompany my book reviews.)
- Make more frame animations with Photoshop. (I’m quite proud of the short animation I made last year. I’ve been wanting to make an animated music video for “Dying in LA” by Panic! At The Disco for the longest time lol.)
- Learn Javascript. (O boi.)
- Play barre chords on the guitar (instead of transposing songs to chords I can already play).
- Brush up on Chinese by reading Chinese books.
- Learn French on Duolingo.
- Build my ASL vocabulary.
- Go on hikes.
- Swim regularly.
- Do more photoshoots with friends.
- Get comfortable shooting on manual and kickstart a freelance photography side gig.
- Learn about SEO and get a Google Analytics certification.
I could break each thing down for you by answering those four/five questions for each one, but I don’t think anyone will be that interested (you’ve got enough to think about for yourself already!) and I don’t have the space for it in this post anyway.
I don’t expect myself to do all these things or even most of these things, but it’ll be a helpful list to pull from when I’m feeling dull. If you find your list a little overwhelming like I’m finding mine, I would recommend starting with your top three priorities, which is exactly how I tackle my daily to-do lists.
What’s some thing you’d like to learn or a hobby you’d like to take up in 2019?
PS: I’m giving Blogmas a go! Let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’d like to see on the blog (ू•ᴗ•ू❁) Thank you Julia for suggesting this one about things I want to learn!