Embracing the journey of learning

Learning a new skill can be a very exciting and at the same time daunting task because you're going into an unknown area for the first time and you don't know how well you will do. Even though a lot of people testified that it's easy to pick up such a skill, everyone is built differently and it may be difficult for you to learn it in the long run. Being built differently means that we all have areas we excel at and also sometimes, you're not sure of what you're capable of until you try.

For me, I have dabbled in a lot of things over the years and while some were very easy to learn, others were challenging. But the good thing about trying out a lot of new things is that it helps you narrow down your strengths and weaknesses because you will never really know until you try. One thing that was very easy for me to pick up was riding a bicycle. Everyone kept telling me that you can't learn how to ride one without falling and getting injured, and I had that in mind when I got on a bicycle for the first time. I had initial trouble balancing myself because of the fear of falling but within a few minutes, I was riding around my street with confidence.

I guess what helped was that my street has a gentle slope, so gravity basically did most of the work while I focused on balancing myself. Before long, I could easily ride uphill as well, and I did all that without falling at all. Another thing that was easy for me to learn was swimming. The first time I got in a pool, I picked it up easily. It's probably because I'm very good at holding my breath underwater and comfortable with keeping my eyes open, which is something a lot of people find difficult to do. My friends who had been struggling to learn for several days were shocked when they saw me swimming around the pool like a fish 😅.

When it comes to learning something new, there's one thing that tops the chart and that is computers. And by that, I mean basic computer operations such as knowing your way around the computer, typing, Microsoft Word, spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and so on. I did a 9-month program at a computer school after I finished high school back in 2014 and within 3 months, I was already made the assistant teacher because of how fast I picked up concepts. I was far ahead of people that had been there for over 6 months and they preferred asking me for help when they had problems because of how easily I explained the solutions.

Now let's look at the things that were hard for me to learn and the first on the list is graphics designing. You might be wondering, why someone very good at computers suddenly finds it hard to pick up graphics design. Well, it's because of one thing and that's creativity. To be a good graphics designer, you have to be very creative but for me, I suck at creativity. When I started learning, I thought it wouldn't become a problem later on because I saw creativity as something that can be learned but 6 months down the line, I realized I was wrong; creativity is something you're born with.

When I try to come up with my own designs, I just stare at the blank canvas without knowing what to do but when it comes to copying the designs of someone else, I did it flawlessly. I just went with that for a while and did jobs for people by just using free templates I found online but later on, I decided to just try something else that was within my strengths and that was when I found programming. Learning programming made me realize I would never be good at graphics design because my logical side is way stronger than my visual/creative side. As a programmer, I never had to worry about design as that's the job of someone else (UI/UX designer).

These experiences have helped me to understand a lot about my strengths and weaknesses. Both graphics design and programming are computer concepts but I still found it hard to learn graphics design despite being very adept at computers. I never knew I would be good at programming and even love it until I actually tried it out, even though a lot of people said it's very difficult to learn. From that journey, I got to know that I'm better at the logical aspect of computers while I suck at the visual aspect. From my experiences with cycling and swimming, I realized that I easily pick up very hands-on things, and that includes fixing electrical appliances (which I learned on my own).

Thanks for reading

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