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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Aha Moment

Often when I'm teaching someone or helping them with a knit/crochet fix I hear comments like, "I'm so stupid" or similar denigrating comments.

I always ask people to refrain from saying things like that. It's not necessary. We all make mistakes and that's how we live and learn. In my classes, people aren't allowed to put themselves down.

Yesterday I was getting my hair cut and the stylist always blow drys it straight(ish). I love how it looks and since I have really curly thick hair I don't take the time to do this myself. OK, who am I kidding, I'm impatient and it takes a long time. I don't know how to blow dry my hair straight or use round brushes and certainly not at the same time (think walk and chew gum).

I started to say, "I'm so stupid, I don't know how to style my own hair." I caught myself and thought immediately of the what people say to me. It made me smile. I totally get the feeling behind saying that. For me, it was that I felt foolish that I don't know how to do this. I imagine its the same way for others. You feel you ought to be able to do it and feel funny having to ask.

So the moral of the story is, just ask. My stylist was happy to teach me and told me to stop in anytime if I have a question. I feel the same way when I help people. You can't learn if you don't ask and learning from mistakes is a large part of learning.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

so are you coming over to do my hair? I can't do it myself and don't feel dumb that I can't. I bet my hair dresser can't paint, work in clay or sew. We each have our strengths. Even Renaissance people need others. Even in the time of cave men, there were people who could make spear heads from flint better than others.