On Being Gracefully Uncomfortable

When I want to learn something new I have to seek the company of people who are way better at it than I am, right now. Chances are that this company will make me feel uncomfortable. My new companions seem to signal at me, using a secret sign language. The gist of their messages is `You are not yet good enough’.

OK, I have decided to face my discomfort. I have enrolled in a course of figure drawing at Wackers Academie, and during the first lesson I discovered that I am probably the person in the classroom with the least experience. The class was announced as `for all levels,’ but I seem to be surrounded by master draftsmen and draftswomen who have no problem at all to recreate what they see into convincing and lovely images on paper.

Meanwhile I am struggling.

The art of learning new skills is the art of being gracefully uncomfortable. I intend to keep you posted about my struggles and my progress, as I am learning and experiencing, trying to keep my balance on the tightrope between boredom and frustration in an ever-continuing act of finding flow.