Being a Beginner

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I Should Be Folding Laundry

A few months ago, our friend Sandy asked if we’d be interested in going to a drum circle with her.  We said “You do what on Saturday nights????”

Drumming, with djembes, which are from west Africa.  You use your hands to get different sounds and rhythms out of them.

Alan and I are not musicians.  I still take great pride in the fact that I took piano lessons.  For a year before my family left the country and that was the end of that.

Then in high school I played French horn in a marching band, realized the effect it was having on my social life and quit. 

So.  Not musical at all.

But the cool thing about this drum circle is that Cliff, the teacher, welcomes everybody, from the really good to the rank beginners (and when I say rank…).  He gives us some instructions, demonstrates a rhythm and we start to play along.

And, yes, I feel really silly sometimes.  I know that I’m not keeping up and sometimes, when it’s time to try a solo, I freeze up completely and pass it to my poor unprepared husband.

But I’m trying something new.  I’m expanding my horizons.  I’m learning to feel comfortable with that “I’m just learning” feeling that is so uncomfortable that most of us try to avoid it, from not long after our little baby toes have learned to support us on our path through life.

Because I truly, truly believe that the more you experience that feeling, the more you will actually learn and the broader your horizons become. 

And it’s the broad horizons that make for a happy, fulfilling life.  Even if you look and feel like a rank beginner the whole time you’re living it.

What new things have you been learning lately?

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4 Responses to Being a Beginner

  1. Tim Warner says:

    I am currently learning to play nice with my new boss. Must play nice because he is my new boss, must learn because the Council shafted me and gave hime the job I was after 🙁

    On a positve note learning to ‘work’ whilst working from home – lots of distractions and no systems to streamline me! And this blog isn’t helping hehe

  2. Barb McMahon says:

    Always happy to help with the distractions!
    But now I fear that I will be in trouble with your boss. And what kind of stretch is that to get in trouble with a boss I don’t have and have never even met. Hmmm… where should that go on my resume, I wonder?
    Sorry you didn’t get the job you wanted. Better luck next time.

  3. Margie says:

    Cliff…a drum teacher and a dad. What are the chances of meeting that name twice in a lifetime? Any other significant Cliffs? Besies the ones in Dover. Does this Cliff live in the house on the highway on the way to Kitchener? Love Happy Simple. I am passing it on to Jean and Anne.

  4. Barb McMahon says:

    Thanks so much Margie! I appreciate it.
    And, yes, that’s the Cliff. It’s certainly not a name you hear every day…

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