Yesterday my dad told me something that I think maybe more people need to hear.
Youâre allowed to just do things for fun.
He told me that in this modern society, especially the United States, we seem to have this attitude that we shouldnât do something unless weâre aiming to be the best at it. If we canât sing like Beyonce or Frank Sinatra or something thereâs no point to singing. If we canât make the next big breakthrough thereâs no point in looking into mechanics and engineering.
But, he tells me, it took him a long time to figure out that life doesnât have to be a race. If you want to take up the piano when youâre a teenager or later youâre not going to master it. Youâre not going to be able to play to huge concert halls, but that also shouldnât stop you. You can study a language out of curiosity and then drop the ball if you want. You can just get okay at something or even be terrible at it. You can drop it for days or years and then pick it up again and it doesnât have to be a shameful thing.
Iâm really glad he told me that because today I opened my sketchpad for the first time in months and just started drawing. And it looks terrible. But I donât care. I donât have the talent or patience or spacial awareness to get anywhere near good at drawing, but itâs fun. It helps me focus my mind and nobody has to see it.
And because of what he told me, Iâm thinking maybe someday soon I will take up the bass guitar. And I wonât worry about how well I do, or how fast I learn, or that I havenât played an instrument since sixth grade, or that I donât have that much time to practice. Iâm just gonna enjoy the experience. Maybe Iâll try swing dancing again and take a class because Iâm not the best dancer but damn if it isnât fun.
Yeah, you donât have to be good at things. Itâs not a requirement. Maybe that seems obvious but it had never occurred to me before. Youâre allowed to just enjoy what youâre doing. For me, that feels like a life changing revelation. I donât have to be good at something to like it. I donât have to put 100% effort into everything I do. Itâs kind of amazing.
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