Why I’m going to keep trying crazy things

By Sarah Defibaugh

I experienced a subtle mental shift when I moved from twenties into my thirties.  Did you feel it also?  The twenties provided me some buffer, some flexibility as I found my path professionally and personally.  I thought of myself as young.  To try something didn’t mean that I had to be an expert at it. It just meant that I was still learning, still growing , still becoming the person that I would be when I was a “adult”. There was still time for mistakes to be rectified.

Now, firmly planted in my mid-thirties, I find myself much less forgiving of my own mistakes. I need to have it all together. If I try something new, I might embarrass myself. It takes a certain humility  to learn a new skill because many of my peers have already mastered the very thing I am working on.  In other words, it’s okay to be a novice until you hit the age where there are a lot of experts.

I’m ready to buck the system. I want to be a lifelong learner. I want to be humble enough to admit when I need help and to be willing to practice a new skill even if it’s not something I’m very good at, just for the experience of learning. I don’t want to be scared of what others think. I’d like to think that maybe my full potential is yet to come – – that the best things are still ahead.

The one thing I really don’t want to do is live in fear .  Fear of what people think, fear of failure, fear of injury, or fear the that the best is behind me. As the wise King Solomon observes in Ecclesiastes 11, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.”  No risk, no reward.

Yesterday I took a deep breath and tried something I had been too scared to attempt for a long time: canning.   All that boiling and lids popping and sterilizing and water bath stuff has made it akin in my mind to performing a medical procedure–something I am woefully under qualified for.  After reading the instructions on the canning jars way more times than I care to admit, and placing a few frantic phone calls to my local canning expert, I managed to can six jars of wild blackberry jam.  Here they are, in all their glory.  

Sarah H. is teaching herself to play the guitar.  She found an app and is working a little bit every day because one day she will pick up her guitar and play something beautiful and moving on it.  Her son is watching her and she finds herself smiling at his words of encouragement: “you’ll do better next time Mommy!”.  She’s been reminding him that everyone is a beginner at first, that no one is an expert when they start.

Here’s my point (yes, I really do have one):  Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Just because you’ve never tried running before doesn’t mean that you can’t be a runner. Just because you’ve never tried skydiving doesn’t mean that you won’t like it. Just because you’ve never taken the time to write doesn’t mean you don’t have a message to share.  Just because you’ve never played the guitar before doesn’t mean that there isn’t a pent up musician inside of you trying to break free.

So who’s with us?  What’s something you want to try that you’ve been putting off, either because you haven’t made the time or you’ve been scared to put yourself out there?  We love to be inspired, so please share!