When I was a kid, I was pretty shy and so when it came to new things, I wouldn't want to try them in front of everyone. I would much prefer if I could go home and attempt it on my own first. Some were stupid - like after seeing all sorts of kids "accidentally" staple their finger, I went home and in the privacy of my own bedroom, I stapled my finger. I learned that not only did it hurt, but I was pretty sure that they didn't really accidentally do that - but it was intentional for attention. Sometimes I would have my brother teach me (like tennis) which didn't always work as he would lose patience with me and also had a playful/joker side which sometimes led me to being tricked into being his little puppet for his amusement... but that's what older siblings do right?But there are many things that I wish I would have tried when I was a kid - one, because you learn faster; two, because it's not so bad if you mess up as a kid; and three, you heal faster. The last one comes to mind as I'm still dealing with a large nasty jagged scar on my nose from last Thursday's fall (you know? from when I head butted the jerk who was rude to me, yeah that's it, that's what happened).
And I watch The Kid not wanting to try things and I really wish he'd jump in now at 10 years old because I'm afraid he'll look back at his youth and wish he had done more 'stuff'. I know, I shouldn't worry about things that haven't happened and he's not my kid to worry about - but I realize that when you get older you really do know what you're talking about and the younger ones can learn from you - I love that irony in life - and recall the old saying "hire a 19 year-old while they still know everything". It's so true.
What would I have tried? Oh I should've jumped into more games of baseball, or tried water skiing or riding a skateboard or tasting certain foods. That kind of stuff. I'm glad I did the sports that I did, and that I bungee jumped and that I overcame my fear of water and learned how to swim. And I'm glad I started conversations with some people too.
What things are you "glad you did" or "wish you would have"?
4 comments:
Many (like, a lot of) years ago, I was up at Cultas Lake with my boyfriend - it was an amazingly beautiful night with a full moon and the lake was as smooth as glass. Someone offered us their 2 person kayak to go out for a paddle. I refused to get in - I thought I was too fat (I wasn't) and was too chicken!
Thankfully, I've overcome so many of those fears and tried many new and very scary things (for me) like sailing, running, traveling to exotic places. Sometimes I can't believe how much time I wasted worrying about what others would think!
Yes! See? I probably wouldn't have taken the kayak either back then - but now I would! Thanks for sharing! And I'm so glad to hear that you're trying so many once scary things too! Good for you!
And sometimes when you hear what people really were thinking - you find out they wished they were as brave as you!
Great comments Lorna.
I wish I would have travelled and done the backpacking thing. Now I don't think I could rough it that much.
I'm glad that I had taken some amazing jobs and done networking things happen and met some fab people because of it, including you!
I'm also glad that I walked away from some crappy jobs and people as those experiences led to bigger and better things.
Thanks Cynthia - right back at you! And yes some of those crappy people and the crappy things they've done to us resulted in much nicer things after - didn't they? Well that's how I choose to remember it ;-)
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