We all fumble …

We are born fumblers. No-one is born knowing how to do anything other than breathe and dirty their diaper. We learn everything else. We learn to walk – unsteadily at first. We learn to talk – unsteadily at first. We learn to play, to ride a bike, to cook food, to write, to sing, to design – all of these things and more – but all, unsteadily at first. Why are we so hard on ourselves? People are, in my experience, very hard on themselves. This is ‘throw-back’ behavior – I think it is a left-over behavior from the days when we lived in small tribes. If we demonstrated to the tribe that we couldn’t hunt well or provide well or be of benefit to the tribe in some way – then we lost standing in the tribe – and that, could mean starvation or even death. Those who were quickly able to demonstrate their capabilities were afforded prestige in the tribe – those who couldn’t – were afforded less prestige. And for much of our history, prestige amongst our peers mean’t an increased chance of survival (better mates, a larger share of food, etc). But the world we live in now is very different; our survival isn’t as strongly connected to how other people see us. We can, to a large degree, survive well without the approval of our peer group. When we are learning new things – we can afford to fail, and fail grandly – the price is no longer what it once was. So take a chance – try that new technique – turn left when you normally would have turned right – experiment – the price-tag is usually affordable.

JBW