A Year of Writing to Uncover the Authentic Self : Lesson 13: Forgotten Skills
This prompt is to think about our forgotten childhood skills.
My forgotten skills:
- Playing the piano
- Photography and manually processing film and prints
- Rollerblading
- As a kid I did cross-stitching
Maybe others. I miss photography but I know some of the reasons I stopped. One, I got busy at university and never found the time. Secondly, I liked the whole process and it has taken me a long time to consider just digital photography. These days everyone with a Smartphone thinks they are a photographer. Just slap a filter on there and Bam art. So progress in that area stole a lot of the enjoyment out of it for me.
Skills I continued
I started writing fiction pretty young not that many knew it. And that I continue to this day. Something fundamental to mt nature that loves that hobby. Needs it, maybe. And a level of escapism I think I have always indulged in. Writing in all sorts of forms appeals to me. I started a blog when blogs came into existence. I programed my own website to communicate with prior to blogs. I do freelance writing off and on, off and on. I do poetry. And write books.
Skills we lose and then regain
My father liked my artistic skills back in the day. I don’t recall anyone mentioning that they were in any way spectacular. I liked to doodle for sure. And I took art one year in high school for a filler class. That teacher took my final project to hang in the school- which is cool but I felt very accomplished having done it. And I never took any other art classes. I took all three years of visual communications (photography and such). Because I didn’t think I had much of a talent for art.
I got back into once I became fully disabled as a way to cope with the lower functionality that came with the level of disability I was dealing with. I was and am just not able to do as much for as long. And I needed a hobby I could do sitting down but didn’t require much thinking focus- I can zone out on it but it doesn’t need mental clarity, focus, concentration, critical thinking, problem solving or any of the things my brain struggles with with chronic vertigo and migraines.
And I Sucked. Hard. I know I sucked at it to start. But I persisted. And persisted. And I could see my improvements as I went along. I explored different mediums. Played around. And my skills have improved rapidly. I have to say when I get into something I get INTO it. I get obsessively into it. So the fact I improved at the pace I did doesn’t really surprise me. But when I look back to then to what I am doing now- pretty amazeballs. Who knows what next year might bring.
Rusty skills
Use it or lose it, basically. Some physical skills I just done do Well anymore. Not biking. Not swimming. Not skating. Not Gymnastics. Not rollerblading and I used to do that all over the damn place.
And, yeah, those skills are rusty as all hell. But also physically I just do not Work as well. One issue being the vertigo. And another being pain. But definitely when it comes to rollerblades do not put them on with a vestibular condition. Big NOPE.
But some we just have no use for anymore. That is just how it goes,
Creative outlet
I have never given up a creative outlet. It has always been vital to me to have one. I know some people used to write or draw or act or whatever and just let that go with childhood but for me it is like food for the soul. I need it to breath in this world. Part of me needs to constantly learn and feed that insatiable brain of mine. And another part needs a creative outlet.
I suppose that is why I don’t quite understand people that don’t have hobbies when I need mine to exist. Like I need to stuff my brain with information on a constant basis even if I will never use that information. It is what it is.
The Wyrd 