Challenging My Assumptions
I don't generally make New Year's resolutions. But as the new year rolls in, I do sometimes decide to do things. This year, I decided that I would begin to challenge my assumptions. We all have assumptions. We have ideas about how things are. We have ideas about how we are. And who we are. I like this. I don't like that. I'm terrible at certain things etc. etc.
But they aren't necessarily true just because we think them. Generally, people don't like to challenge their assumptions. It's not comfy and nobody wants to find out that certain things they may have believed for a really long time aren't actually true. Sometimes though, like the poor guy in Green Eggs and Ham, we've already decided how things are without actually trying them.
Me, I'm weird. I like to shake things up every so often. It's a good way to grow and I believe that if you're not growing, you're dead.
I don't have a list of specific assumptions I'm going to challenge although I have a basic idea in the back of my head about what I might tackle. Subject to change, of course. Today on a rare day off, I looked at my first assumption, that being, "I don't like to sew. I don't want to learn."
My mom sews. She's good at it and she's mentored other people with their projects. So, there was always an opportunity to learn. But I've always said "No thanks. There are 800 things I want to do more."
Except that someone gifted my mom with some magazines which feature clothing which has been upcycled and repurposed. Mom loaned them to me. And now I'm totally in love. "It makes sense," my friend Annmarie said. "You love clothes. You like to repurpose things. You should totally learn to sew."
Today, I took a pair of too small pants and a pair of yoga pants and made a skirt. Both pair of pants were headed to the thrift store. Yet I now have something new, which I love. (Took some of the scraps and made a matching headband too). Now, I'm still not an amazing seamstress. My mom helped me and I needed a LOT of support. But the point is, I challenged a basic assumption I held about myself for years. "I don't like to/want to learn to sew" became "Hey, look! I made this!"
If I stop believing everything I think, who knows what sort of shenanigans I might get up to?!
But they aren't necessarily true just because we think them. Generally, people don't like to challenge their assumptions. It's not comfy and nobody wants to find out that certain things they may have believed for a really long time aren't actually true. Sometimes though, like the poor guy in Green Eggs and Ham, we've already decided how things are without actually trying them.
Me, I'm weird. I like to shake things up every so often. It's a good way to grow and I believe that if you're not growing, you're dead.
I don't have a list of specific assumptions I'm going to challenge although I have a basic idea in the back of my head about what I might tackle. Subject to change, of course. Today on a rare day off, I looked at my first assumption, that being, "I don't like to sew. I don't want to learn."
My mom sews. She's good at it and she's mentored other people with their projects. So, there was always an opportunity to learn. But I've always said "No thanks. There are 800 things I want to do more."
Except that someone gifted my mom with some magazines which feature clothing which has been upcycled and repurposed. Mom loaned them to me. And now I'm totally in love. "It makes sense," my friend Annmarie said. "You love clothes. You like to repurpose things. You should totally learn to sew."
Today, I took a pair of too small pants and a pair of yoga pants and made a skirt. Both pair of pants were headed to the thrift store. Yet I now have something new, which I love. (Took some of the scraps and made a matching headband too). Now, I'm still not an amazing seamstress. My mom helped me and I needed a LOT of support. But the point is, I challenged a basic assumption I held about myself for years. "I don't like to/want to learn to sew" became "Hey, look! I made this!"
If I stop believing everything I think, who knows what sort of shenanigans I might get up to?!
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