How I learnt I can learn anything

I get nervous and a glimpse of fear stirs within me. Over my shoulder I see the blue wall of water building up behind me. On the side, the sun is going down, coloring the ocean and the sky in a deep beautiful red. Five pelicans glide gracefully over my head. For a moment, I fear the wave is going to break on top of me. But suddenly I feel how the water lifts me up, right on the wave’s peak. Surprisingly easy, I pop up on my feet, turn the surfboard to the left and find myself rushing towards the beach, facing the sunset. I feel the power of the ocean pushing me forward. The feeling of freedom in my body, moving side by side with nature. I squat a little more to get speed, finally turn the board straight towards the beach and jump off right on the sand. Joy makes me shout out loud. As I’m looking back at the sun setting behind the ocean, I cannot stop smiling.

I just took my first green wave. And as with every first, I feel like a new world has opened up and the possibilities have doubled. I feel joyful and powerful at the same time, knowing I’m at the beginning of something great.

I love these “firsts”. The first time hiking a mountain as a 5-year old. The first time speaking in front of people and getting great feedback. The first time finding a real friend who I can share everything with. The first time galloping a horse or snowboarding down a mountain in deep powder snow. Feeling the harmony of a perfect dance or just like yesterday, playing “let it be” on the guitar and finally feeling like I’m creating music rather than noise. These “firsts” embody the joy of living, growing and learning. They have the power to transform something still unknown into a new passion.

As a teenage boy, I hated trying new things.

In my childhood I did football, karate, piano, flute, singing lessons, gymnastics and more. Most of it for one day only. The one thing I did longer than a couple of weeks was play the piano, probably because all my siblings did it. Years later I tried the piano again. Someone came up to me, telling me there was a wrong sound in my music. I couldn’t hear it was wrong and concluded I am bad in musicality. I never touched an instrument again. My focus shifted toward learning stuff that I could do with my mind, as I believed I was simply untalented in everything else.
Years later my friends started a rock band. They wanted me to play the bass and I craved to join them. But I didn’t believe I could do it. Scared of failing, I told them I didn’t want to.

Often I, and maybe you too, have a lot of fear of learning and trying things we are not already good at. Experiences from the past create beliefs that we are not talented in some activities. How many times have you heard or said “I can’t sing.” or “I can’t dance.”? Learning becomes scary instead of joyful. We close ourselves to the life opportunities around us, trying to stay safe.

How can I break out of this?

For me it was learning something I never expected to be capable of. Three years ago I tried West Coast Swing dancing. I experienced a great “first dance” and was lucky to meet the right people who helped me grow. Two years into passionate and intense dancing, I competed on international level and taught dance in Switzerland.

Dancing started a journey on which my “I can’t ______” beliefs started to loose power. Instead of being scared, I learned that I can learn anything.

The more I learn now, the more I break my childhood beliefs and learning becomes easy, vitalizing and fun. It is like a muscle that gets trained or neglected. The more it is used, the stronger it gets and the easier it becomes to try and learn.

As I am writing this Blog, I realize how many times a day I’m held back to learn. Every time I feel envious about a friend’s skill, there is actually a great moment to learn. And simple things, like cooking something in a new way, are good opportunities to train that learning muscle. If you like this idea, observe yourself today and find the moments where you could learn something, but are held back for whatever reason. And then just do it.

#ICanLearnAnything, #NakedWanderer

Header image: Sunset in El Transito – Nicaragua.