This year, I’ve decided to take on adventures of learning new skills. It’s easy to get lost in routines, doing the things we know, and sometimes we start taking them for granted, and feeling less benefit from them. There’s a lot of value in taking on new challenges and pushing outside of our comfort zones!

Taking on something new deliberately exposes us to uncertainty. The ability to tolerate, and maybe even embrace uncertainty is an ability that will serve us well in all aspects of life! It builds self trust and reduces worry. By being choiceful about exposure to uncertainty, we can be more likely to have a good experience with it. And by shifting our perceptions, we may be more likely to have an “adventure” than a “catastrophe”.

So, while I went into the first class unsure what to expect, not knowing anyone, I trusted it would all be ok, the instructor would not push us to anything dangerous, and I welcomed the new experience. Even this step, engaging in openness to trust someone to guide, can be a challenge for some people, and may carry its own benefits.

Some people like having company when they try new things; some familiarity can sometimes be helpful, and sometimes it’s good to walk into newness completely alone. Through this process, I have made new friends, and it’s been fun to bond as classes and our skills progress. We share tips with each other about what works for us, and revel in how much progress has been made; the timidity and fear of the first day compared to our abilities now! So in addition to developing a new skill, I’ve also developed a new sense of community. Exposure to other people’s experiences, whether about the skill you’re embracing and how they learn, or other interests, is valuable.

Perhaps most importantly in this experience, I’ve learned about myself; my level of sociability, approachability, optimism, courage, my learning style, and how my self-esteem has grown. And I’ve incorporated something new into my personality by taking on a new hobby. As self employed, it’s easy to get lost in the sense of “I should always be working on my business”. This codependence isn’t healthy, however, and invites procrastination and stagnation. By making this shift to invest not just in my businesses, but also investing in myself, I feel like more of a whole, interesting person. I support my business not just to be successful, but also so my business can support me.

In the mental health field, “self care” is frequently discussed, but it can sometimes end up feeling like another homework assignment, without the amount of fulfillment that self development or self-nurturance may provide. There is a difference between engaging in a maintenance activity that might be somewhat relaxing, like coloring or a bubble bath, but not deepening, versus a sense of achievement and progress. Learning a new skill can have a longer half-life of joyful returns than an activity that brings satisfaction only when we are actively participating.

Continuing to engage in challenges has been encouraged to prevent cognitive decline in age. It exercises our brain, and reminds us our personalities and identities are not ‘set’, and therefore facilitate more willingness to engage in other new things. Challenge also helps give us perspective on life; when we do familiar things, it may be easy to go to judging ourselves when we make a mistake. We “should” know better. With a new challenge, however, ‘failure’ or mistakes are easier to accept. We can find more compassion for ourselves knowing that imperfection may be circumstantial; our expectations of ourselves may be more reasonable. If you struggle with perfectionism, taking on a new challenge may help!

Learning to Skate

Personally, I’ve found I particularly like about taking on new physical challenges, as there is a tangible experience of progress. Learning new information, knowing something, can be useful, but forgotten. When I am learning not just with my mind, but also in body, it feels more incorporated. I find it fascinating, the dual process of learning both mentally and physically; how something that starts out challenging becomes easy, how something scary becomes as innate as walking. Being able to do something I couldn’t do before, something more demonstrable, gives me more pride than ‘knowing’ something.

If it’s been a while since you’ve taken on a new skill, maybe it’s something to consider. What have you always wished you could do? Run a marathon? Knit? Speak a new language? Would you get satisfaction from taking a cooking class or learning to write an app? Is there some interest you’ve put off for the sake of ‘not enough time’ that you could actually be making some time for? What new learning adventure would you like to embark on? What new things have you tried recently, and how have they left you feeling inspired to do more with your time?