Learning Something

Learning something, especially that is kinesthetic, can be a very tricky exercise. One has to be prepared to go through my 'failure' cycles to get it right. Passing through the four stages of competence is a learning experience in itself.

This was repeated when I recently tried my hand at surfing. Much of my time of the 90 minutes course was spent lugging the board the wave, being pushed around the water - over and under, drinking copious amounts of sea water and finally bobbing up to see which direction I was facing and to have yet another wave hit me.

The good news was that everybody goes through this cycle. Nobody learnt to surf in 90 minutes - it takes time as one passes through the stages of competence.

And as I saw someone much higher up on the learning curve - I smiled. Each attempt the surfer made to stand up, she fell into the water again. That was inspiring and humbling at the same time - that I do have a long way to go before I become anything of an avid surfer.

This experience mirrors my skiing experience where I spent most of the time tumbling in the snow and picking myself up.

But learning is fun!