How often has someone said to you to try something, you never know, you might like it? When I was young it was something my mother often used to say to me to get me to try different foods. Some I did like and others I didn’t. That’s life.
Now that I am retired and am supposed to have time on my hands I have the opportunity to try lots of things that I have never tried before. Some I have liked and others I haven’t yet it has not always been that simple.
Take drawing for example. One of things that I said I wanted to do when I could was to learn to draw. I took some lessons which included basic shapes, perspective, still life, shading and illustration. I enjoyed the lessons yet there were aspects that I didn’t enjoy, especially the still life. I quickly realised that this was the kind of drawing that I didn’t want to do. Illustration was much more my thing. I would never have known, however, if I hadn’t given it a go.
The important lesson for me here was not finding out what I liked but rather what I didn’t like. It might seem like the same thing yet there is, at least in my mind, a subtle difference. Trying something new that you thought would be up your street takes you to a range of different experiences. Drawing isn’t one thing and, only by giving it a go, was I able to hone down what I wanted to do.
When my mother asked me to try something new to eat I didn’t know if I was going to like it or not. When I went to drawing lessons it was something I wanted to do and thought I was going to like only to find that there were things that I didn’t enjoy.
Make no assumptions. Even if you feel like you are going to enjoy something you will never know until you give it a go. Try something you’ve always wanted to do. You never know, you might not like it!
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 