Isn’t It a Beautiful Day! (acrylic) by Polly Castor
“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.
And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”
And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”
And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”
by Kurt Vonnegut
Let’s Have Fun! (acrylic) by Polly Castor
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7 Comments
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Whew!!!
Thanks, Kurt!
(And Polly!)Here all this time I thought I had to be as good at….stuff… as “my older sister”….so I stopped many attempts at …art…poetry… etc. because I showed no real talent. Goooooood grief!!!
(Note: Of course I learned this lonnng ago, but it’s nice to have the confirmation!!)
;-)
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Do it because it’s FUN!!
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Thank you…what a great message to pass along. I enjoy people because they are interesting, not by their trophies.
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Thanks for sharing! This was always my criteria as my son was growing up and deciding on different sports & activities. ‘Try it as long as it’s fun and you enjoy it.’ It was never about being the best. As a result his interests took him from soccer, lacrosse and football to magic, juggling and circus arts. This variety of experiences and memories built up to bring him to his passions of today.
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Yay! So glad to hear.
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Wish I had gotten this message 75 years ago. It makes so much sense and would have saved me a lot of self criticism. I love your blog.
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Wow what a great way to approach life. I love it!
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