A First Time for Everything?

I'm blogging - who'd have thought? This is one of those things I always thought I'd never do - right along with writing Christmas letters, owning a store, having more than 2 children, remarrying, knitting, crocheting, and getting fat. And like the rest of the list.....it was hard to get started. (except getting fat - I'm afraid that's been painfully simple from day 1). It's not that I haven't wanted to blog - from the time I heard about blogging - I've wanted to start one...but I just couldn't bring myself to get started. I was afraid that my first attempt would be so bad, that the blog police would shut me down or something....like that many people are actually going to read this?

Here I am - 5o something years old - and I still have trouble trying something for the first time. I know I'm not alone - there's a lot of people out there afraid to try something for the first time. What are we afraid of? And why - when we finally do try something new - do we think we should be good at it right away?

I teach knitting and crocheting classes in my store(it's a yarn shop). Adults in particular, seem to think that they should catch on right away or they're no good at it. It's pretty rare to find someone who's good at anything the first time they try it, isn't it? There are exceptions of course, but most of us have to struggle and start over a whole bunch of times before we succeed.

When I started knitting - I started over a bunch of times before I actually finished a project. Through all the starting over and having to fix mistakes - I learned. I have made so many mistakes - and started over so many times, that I actually have become quite a troubleshooting expert when it comes to knitting and crocheting. I always tell my knitters not to be afraid to make mistakes - it's just yarn. IF you goof up - rip it out and try again. When it's all finished and beautiful - who's going to know that it took 14 tries to get started?

The real experts in anything are the ones that made the most mistakes. They're the ones that learned the most because they got the most practice from all their "do- overs." Experts are who we turn to fix our mistakes. Doesn't it make sense that they became experts because they had so many mistakes of their own to fix?

If, when we start out - we're not very good...then all we can do is get better. So -this is my first blog.....I just reread it - and it's not very good. But I'll keep trying - because it's something I always wanted to do - and I'm figuring I can only get better. The only way I can fail is to give up.