I was called ‘talented’ but never actually really began.
spoiler
To be honest I hated the kiddie songs for beginners and was being placed under unreasonable expectations by adults who either wanted to live their failed dreams through me or have a show pony that did tricks. The pressure killed my desire and the boring fundamentals work did the rest.
Also I had way too much else on my plate like survival.
The same things were true with art as a kid, and are true now with the ukulele. No idea where it is.
But I was and am very tired and distractable so it’s just easier and less revealing to call it lazy. It’s entirely possible there’s undiagnosed ADHD for me as well.
Ironically video game dailies/rep grinds (and physio) are the only way I really learned to have any sort of consistency. I also have the ‘procrastinate because it will be too hard’ brain and what helps is to just do the absolute least. Pick a stupidly simple task and do it once a day or even once a week if you have to.
This is also how I built the flossing habit. Bought floss picks and put them where I spent the most time. Flossed one handed while scrolling or gaming.
You need to break it down into small steps that don’t release stress chemicals or require you to go massively out of your way otherwise it becomes aversive.
Also you have to think about why you want to do it. As that’s a bigger or more consistent motivation than anything external which (can also be extremely important and was the reason I started trying to do art again but) can be less reliably available. Is it something you still want to explore or are you just pushing yourself to meet expectations?
I was called ‘talented’ but never actually really began.
spoiler
To be honest I hated the kiddie songs for beginners and was being placed under unreasonable expectations by adults who either wanted to live their failed dreams through me or have a show pony that did tricks. The pressure killed my desire and the boring fundamentals work did the rest.
Also I had way too much else on my plate like survival.
The same things were true with art as a kid, and are true now with the ukulele. No idea where it is.
But I was and am very tired and distractable so it’s just easier and less revealing to call it lazy. It’s entirely possible there’s undiagnosed ADHD for me as well.
Ironically video game dailies/rep grinds (and physio) are the only way I really learned to have any sort of consistency. I also have the ‘procrastinate because it will be too hard’ brain and what helps is to just do the absolute least. Pick a stupidly simple task and do it once a day or even once a week if you have to.
This is also how I built the flossing habit. Bought floss picks and put them where I spent the most time. Flossed one handed while scrolling or gaming.
You need to break it down into small steps that don’t release stress chemicals or require you to go massively out of your way otherwise it becomes aversive.
Also you have to think about why you want to do it. As that’s a bigger or more consistent motivation than anything external which (can also be extremely important and was the reason I started trying to do art again but) can be less reliably available. Is it something you still want to explore or are you just pushing yourself to meet expectations?
Thanks melba! I love the video game dailies method!
Tell me about the kiddie songs for beginners! Especially on piano. It’s always worth playing music you like.
Good on you for having a flossing habit.
I think I still want to play music and just do things in general, it’s just that lately I’ve been really sleep deprived and everything feels too hard.
Yeah, it was piano for me also.
I’m feeling that, it really is time to take it easy with anything non essential