Too Many Interests, Not Enough Time

If you could learn about ANYTHING you wanted, what would it be? Hm…well for starters, I’m a teacher. I consider myself to be a pretty creative person. I also can’t sit still for more than five minutes at a time. Clearing my mind and doing nothing is a skill I have to actively practice. Let’s just say it would be way easier to tell you the things I wouldn’t want to learn! I’ve got the desk area and closet space to prove how vast my interests are.

I’m also a college student. Professor hand me detailed lists of exactly how I must spend the remainder of my time that is not already devoted to my work or family. Whatever free time I have left is usually consumed by thinking about all the things I could be doing, realizing just how burt out I am, and vegging out on the couch. As a result of all of this, many of those good intention projects in my closet have started to collect dust.

Time is not the excuse here. If I was to itemize how I spend my day, I know I would have time for personal things and homework. I just think it’s kind of funny how differently I treat my homework and personal to do list. If something is homework, I’ll pull an all nighter before I don’t do it. However, that book I’ve been meaning to read, or half knitted scarf always seem to be pushed to the side. Maybe I get burnt out, I don’t know…guess I’ll just chalk that one up to being human.

I have to say, I’m pretty darn excited about the independent-learning project. Getting to pick up one of those projects and adding the level of accountability a homework assignment delivers means I might actually learn a new hobby! In fact I have just the thing in mind.

I bought this ukulele last fall when some life changes made me think I was going to have more time on my hands than I actually did. I had enough time to learn how to tune it, master one chord pattern, and toss it into the back of my closet, where it has been ever since.

The thought of learning this instrument is exciting. I played clarinet from sixth grade until my sophomore year of college, so I feel like I have enough of a musical background to try and tackle this on my own. That’s not to say it will be easy! A stringed instrument is a beast of it’s own. Having played the clarinet, I’m used to having the melody most of the time, and other instruments keeping steady beat. Learning how to be the one to keep the beat will be tricky!

From a general learning perspective, I’m interested to see how this goes. Being totally honest with myself, I know I have a tendency to walk away from something when it gets hard, or I don’t understand it. Choosing this to essentially be my homework, I don’t really have the option to walk away from it. I think that learning how to push through those moments that you want to give up will be extremely valuable  in my teaching career, and life in general.