My year of learning

The art of making mistakes

My first collection of makes from Pottery class

Last year I joined a couple of classes in a bid to develop new skills. I am quite the perfectionist and find it difficult to do things for fear of making a mistake. However, studies show that making mistakes can actually help us learn better (even by making mistakes intentionally!) The simple act of learning a new skill, even poorly, has even been shown to boost your brain matter in later life.

I’ve found embracing pottery throwing and wood carving to be quite freeing, as both can be pretty unforgiving for making mistakes. Whilst I won’t be going back anytime soon (thanks to la baby) I look forward to that time in the future when I can revisit them. For now I’m happy to enjoy the fruits of my labour.

Makes from my 2nd term of pottery

Little charms I made from pottery

A little cup with doodles I made from pottery, currently housing my pilea plant

A stag beetle I made from carving class

In their place I’ve turned to the world of online learning. I allow myself about 10 minutes of each subject a day to learn Welsh, knit (a cardigan that was jumper), and a tiny bit of music note reading in hopes of picking up the violin again.

What I’ve discovered from consistently doing my 10 minutes everyday, is that I am slowly retaining what I have learnt. Whilst I find it hard to find dedicate anymore time than what I have already, over a week I’m doing more than an hour on each thing. You never know maybe in a years time I may be at a point where I’m wearing my new cardigan, conversing in Welsh whilst playing the violin.