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barbara sher, figure skating, gretchen rubin, happiness project, plane spotting, scanner, secrets of happiness
Like Gretchen Rubin’s Secrets of Adulthood this is something I’ve only really learnt recently. Even now I have to remind myself of this. I have writen in the past about being a “scanner” and the main tenet of this is a constant desire to try new things. Activities I have tried in the past include: ballet (I lasted one class), belly dancing, ice skating (last time I went I ended up with a black eye after breaking a fall with my face), book group (I started my own at university), knitting (I’m a terrible knitter but it did lead to me the wonder that is crochet), Zumba (and more recently Aqua Zumba), roller derby, and, of course, blogging.
I could have been a figure skater. You know, if it wasn’t for all the falling over.
Very few of these activities have had enduring appeal for me. For a long time I just assumed I lacked commitment and tenacity. I feared I was never going to be good at anything unless I could see it through. Some of these activities I get very passionate about and want to continue my interest. I have looked into becoming a yoga teacher, a breast feeding counsellor. For a few years I wanted to become an interpreter but then a got a C in my Spanish A level (in my defence I completed it in just one year). My blog name kind of gives the game away on this.
There’s a passion out there for everyone. Doesn’t mean it’s the right one for you.
Reading Barbara Sher’s What Do I Do When I Want To Do Everything? opened my eyes to the possibility that I just crave novelty. I definitely think that is one aspect, and it helps me to be ok with my choices. But the other part is that I generally have life envy. I want to do things because other people are doing them. The whole way though university when people told me what course they were doing I’d think “That’s great, why didn’t I chose Linguistics and Croatian instead of boring psychology?”
I sometimes wonder why I am not spending my time rock climbing, silversmithing or watching film noir. Then I have to remind myself it’s because I don’t want to. I don’t have to share every interest of everyone I know. Yes, I still try new things, but I am more careful about what I take on, and do things that interest me rather than things I feel I should be interested in. That means I will be running crochet classes in a couple of weeks, but I won’t be taking on an allotment again.
What about you? Does your hobby cup runeth over? Or are you in a leisure pursuit prairie land?
I’m like you. I hear about things and need to try them. Right now, if possible.
That’s why I adore the internet. You can find out about new things immediately!
Do tell me about Aqua Zumba though…
I have so much life envy! Everyone else seems to be having a rip roaring time of it, doing fascinating things with fabulous people. I want to be fabulous…but I just can’t be arsed. I’m starting to realise I might be a scanner too…
Ooh, I so agree with this. The lovely Barbara is also helping me suss myself out – I bought Refuse to Choose after your previous blog post about scanners and am about a quarter of the way through – it’s really helpful! Like you, I’m letting myself be interested in a lot of different things, but also figuring out what I genuinely WANT to do from what I feel I SHOULD do. I’ve been like this for years – feeling guilty because I feel like I should try something, or stick with it even if I lose interest, then feeling guilty when I give up. But I don’t have the time or energy for that any more – if I want to try something, I will. If I don’t, I won’t.
I’ve been worried that my breastfeeding volunteer training was a bit of a whim and hoped that when it actually comes to doing the volunteer bit I wouldn’t just switch off, but so far so good – I had my first shift this morning and quite enjoyed it! Hopefully this will be a keeper, as it’s a worthwhile pasttime…unlike my flirtation with tap dancing, knitting and – yes – a fleeting moment when I also considered roller derby! (Seriously, were we separated at birth??)
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