“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.
And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”
And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”
And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”
I can attest to this, in my own way. I had a headstart since nobody ever pushed me, parents werent competitive fuckups and thus their child wasnt.
I do climbing, hiking, skiing, skitouring, diving, weightlifting, used to do paragliding, now trying to pick up wind surfing. None of those sports on high level, just keeping it cca the same.
Climbing is a good example since every climbing route is exactly graded for overall difficulty. Over years I even went down a bit from levels I used to do. I just go to the gym or rock, enjoy even the simplest routes that some consider for beginners, despite doing sport for 15 years. Many folks around keep pushing themselves hard to progress, I just dont have that bug.
Exactly same could be said for weightlifting, found my set of free weights values and just keep doing them. If I feel extra strong I may do few extra reps but thats it. I was even mocked here for saying this but who cares, I do it for myself and not to impress or do stupid empty status games with others. Its very sustainable that way too.
That sounds awesome! I basically do all the same sports, but I always need to win or to get better at them. I am trying to move in your direction though.
“When I was 15, I spent a month working on an archeological dig. I was talking to one of the archeologists one day during our lunch break and he asked those kinds of “getting to know you” questions you ask young people: Do you play sports? What’s your favorite subject? And I told him, no I don’t play any sports. I do theater, I’m in choir, I play the violin and piano, I used to take art classes.
And he went WOW. That’s amazing! And I said, “Oh no, but I’m not any good at ANY of them.”
And he said something then that I will never forget and which absolutely blew my mind because no one had ever said anything like it to me before: “I don’t think being good at things is the point of doing them. I think you’ve got all these wonderful experiences with different skills, and that all teaches you things and makes you an interesting person, no matter how well you do them.”
And that honestly changed my life. Because I went from a failure, someone who hadn’t been talented enough at anything to excel, to someone who did things because I enjoyed them. I had been raised in such an achievement-oriented environment, so inundated with the myth of Talent, that I thought it was only worth doing things if you could “Win” at them.”