Accepting Your Nature

Accepting your nature.  

As I reflected on my recent art class experience, and my frustration at both not drawing well, and not handling it with grace, I kept coming back to this comment from my favorite high school teacher:

“Your frustration at less than perfection is just who you are and will take much more than an attempt at a new skill or two to overcome.”

She is correct. Perfectionism is in my nature, and pretending it’s not won’t just make it go away. 

As I contemplated that I probably would not return to the art center for another class I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in myself.

There seemed to be a misalignment between the person I aspired to be and the person I was. 

Recently I read an article by Michael Simmons about incorporating the Five-Hour Rule into your week to increase learning. 

He recommends doing small experiments as part of the learning process. “Whether or not an experiment works, is an opportunity to learn and test your ideas.”

I’m reframing my art center experience as an experiment; an experiment that didn’t go quite as I had hoped. Now some of my next artistic ventures might happen in the safety of my own home, but I’m not giving up on perhaps venturing out and trying another class.