Posts Tagged: learning to do simple stuff

“Mastering the Simplest Stuff”

On August 6, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I am always pleased whenever I master even the simplest stuff. For example, I have figured out how to put my wife’s and my measuring spoons back on the “ringy-thingy.” (“Ringy-thingy” is the best technical (??) word I could that I could find on the internet for the piece of plastic that holds measuring spoons together. Sorry!)

When she first bought them, I thought to myself, “How nice! They are all different colors, and we can keep them together on this nice . . . ringy-thingy!”

But then, I washed them. That was fine, but after drying them, The Problem began. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how to get the blamed things back on their holder (the ringy-thingy). I poked and probed and got nowhere fast. I spoke unkindly about the design and the designers. I thought some unkind thoughts toward my sweetheart who had purchased such instruments of torture.

But recently, something wonderful happened. I figured out how to get the measuring spoons back on the ringy-thingy. And it wasn’t even that difficult. I had mastered this simple task.

I’ve always struggled with the simple stuff. I was in the fourth grade before I could tie my shoes. And this was long before the days of Velcro. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to learn how to tie them. It was terrible embarrassing—indeed, humiliating—to have my mom or my teacher tie my shoes at the advanced age of nine. I felt very small and stupid.

Then, one day, I confided in my niece. She was two years younger than I was, and she had been tying her own shoes for a couple of years. Debbie was a good teacher. She very patiently and slowly went through the steps of how to tie shoes. When I was on the verge of tears and wanting to give up, she encouraged me. “No!” she said. “You can learn this!” And I did learn how to tie my own shoes!

So, across the years, I’ve noticed several important things about how I learn simple stuff.

  • The first thing I need to do is to get over thinking that simple stuff is simple. It isn’t. At least, it isn’t simple for me.
  • The next step is to realize that this not-so-simple stuff is going to take time and that I need to make lots of mistakes before I ever master it.
  • I need teachers who are patient, encouraging, and who break things down into little steps.
  • I also need to be patient—with my teachers, with the process, and above all with myself.

What simple stuff has been holding you hostage? Or are you holding your own self hostage?

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