Wild child
Flowers in the weeds
Contrasts
When I Was a Baby Man
I was not born a “go getter”. No one in school called me a “try hard”. I was easily frustrated by challenging experiences, and just got mad instead of trying to overcome the issue. As far as school went, math exemplified this. I can still remember angrily throwing my textbook, it flying through the room, hard covers and pages unfurling like layered wings.
Although I would usually still succeed, I didn’t always. I failed classes. Friends and family realized I was unreliable, guilty of promising things and not seeing them through. A lazy dreamer who napped to solve problems. (Spoiler alert: problems are still there when you wake back up).
It took really screwing up several times, then nearly losing my first teaching job, before I finally changed my course.
Continue readingMorning Visions
Denver tonight
Get some ice cream!
Learn Success part 1: DIY
I’m holding a huge piece of plywood. I’m trying to cut it with a teeny-tiny saw. Plywood wobbles, and I’m not a physicist, but I know it’s not good for the thing you’re trying to cut to be wobbling when you’re trying to cut it.
I’m 30 years old. It’s the summer of 2000. I’m trying to redo the downstairs bathroom.
I have no skills. Crap tools. And practically zero knowledge of carpentry, plumbing, and tiling. I hate painting.
Continue readingLearn by failing part 2 – Skiing
In my first year of teaching, the Ski Club director asked me to be a chaperone. It was a volunteer position, and I didn’t know how to ski, so I wasn’t really interested. When I told her I had never skied, she told me I could take a lesson. I replied “I don’t have enough money.” She told me it was free. When I told her I didn’t have equipment, she told me I could rent. I replied “I don’t have enough money,” and she told me that was also free. Same with the lift ticket.
It was impossible to argue with the math. So, there I was a few weeks later, taking my first lesson. I was nervous, but I remembered what I had learned from my stick-shift odyssey: new things are difficult, but anxiety only makes them harder.
I knew I would fall. And I did. A lot.
Continue readingLearn by failing
I’m at an intersection. The cars behind me are honking. My girlfriend is yelling at me. The light is green. All I have to do is turn left, but I am frozen.
The light turns red, and my girlfriend says, “You have to turn next time.” I reply: “I don’t think I can.”
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Mark Bozeman 