Embracing Newness
When was the last time you were a beginner at something? What did it feel like? Do you ever intentionally put yourself into a position to be a beginner in your daily life? What role does curiosity and judgment play in your perception of the beginner or baby? Do you give permission to yourself or others to be new somewhere, someplace, or at something?
What does any of this have to do with cookies? I think its a very unique question for certain, a question worthy of spending some time pondering. One of the biggest thing that happens as a beginner is that you make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. Have you ever tried surfing? When I tell you I have danced for close to 3 decades, with yoga and other activities that really require balance and activated core strength, me and that surf board are at odds. I tell it I’m going to stand up, and it swiftly tells me naw… sit down Susan, you’re a swimmer not a surfer. Honestly I’ve only tried it one time. The thing is I like to stick to the things I get a hang of from the beginning to minimize my absolute complete bombing of it. Like what sort of research do i need to do to get an understanding of the basics. I feel like I’ve done a great job of sussing out what things are valuable, but still give me the space to explore how I will show up in a space. Finding that balance has taken me a while and I feel quite good at it.
But then there are those things that I’ve decided I’m going to not try. Not because I’m not interested, but because I’ve convinced myself that I will (insert judgement here) and it would be a bad look. That’s a very real feeling, and I imagine I’m not the only one who experiences it. How often do we not attempt something as we don’t want to experience the wounds of rejection, the shame of looking foolish, the ridicule that may never come when we literally fall off the board into the water? That applies to all areas of our lives. How many times have we encountered individuals that we admire and look up to, whose comments and opinions about “Newness”, about being a “baby”, about “not wanting to deal with ignorance”, come off as reasons why we never try? The thing is, each person has been new at everything. We don’t stumble out the womb running with the speed of Usain Bolt. No, we take in our surrounds, we observe and grow each day, we try new things. Some things work, others do not. It is not up to us to determine weather or not things are going to go theoretically “well”. No we just are supposed to try. We are beings in most cases with the capacity to learn and grow. And growth by its very essence is change. The ideas we cling to about staying the same, being the best, achieving the highest high, they are great. They are amazing to be objective and give us a guide to move in a direction that pushes our boundaries beyond what we thought we are capable of.
What if we tried something new for something new’s sake? Without a goal, or a purpose, or an objective other than we wanted to. We wanted to try a new thing. Does that mean we’ll be winning medals? Does that mean that there just are some people who stick a landing on the first try? What about the rest of us who try something new for the sake of trying it and our objective isn’t directly equated to a yes no, pass fail, winner looser scale. To explore something you’ve never done, to use and learn new mental tools, to jump out on a limb, all these things come at a cost. And at times, its really just not worth it. But what about our daily lives and the ways we’ve accepted and or been affected by surviving, is there a value in finding space to try something new? Could it change your whole perspective and give you resources or opportunities to make some better changes? Who knows, but it may be worth thinking about accepting the risk of being new.
