Tuesday 10 January 2017

#52Stories, Week 2, What is something you taught yourself to do without help from anyone else ?

So this is a tricky one for week 2. How many things do we actually learn without help from anyone else ?

Most of us look for a little guidance or reassurance when we start something new.

I learnt to walk and talk by watching other people and absorbing conversations around me.

I learnt to ride a bike by copying my friends, and falling off and getting back on.

I learnt to knit sitting next to my Nana and Mum.

I learnt to love jigsaws because they often led to getting takeaways for dinner when Mum got engrossed in getting them finished.

I learnt to roller skate by buckling them on to my feet, standing up and trying to glide.

I learnt to look for joy and wonder in the simplest things through the eyes of my daughter.

Baking, sewing, problem solving, driving, cross stitch, cardmaking, abseiling. All of these had mentors or tutors to get me started or help me when I got stuck.

I seriously can not think of anything. When I start something new, I research. I might not ask someone directly, but even help found online or in a book has been placed there by someone wanting to help newcomers by sharing their experiences and experience.

Oh wait, 

...maybe being able to problem solve IT idiosyncrasies and frustrations is a skill I have acquired with minimal input through osmosis and just bluffing it - and persevering until getting it right.

...or thinking outside the square to find long gone ancestors who have left few clues (I WILL find you all eventually). Perseverance again.

...or how did I get an in built GPS, so that I can get my bearings and find my way intuitively in new places. My TomTom hates me; the map in my head just takes over and renders it ineffective. This does only work in this hemisphere though. I struggle with east and west, north and south when I am on the other side of the planet.




2 comments:

  1. Hiya Claire, there is an idea that your internal gps may be intrinsic, it is evolved to keep a hard copy of the local environment experienced in early life, and this is perhaps logical considering the small period of time since we split from lower primates. ?

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  2. You sound like a self-directed learner.Great stuff.

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