Photographers, artists, poets: show us LEARNING.
I remember the days when I was young and
inexperienced: teenage years until I had a family of four children and was a
working woman. I was on a learning curve most of my life, coming to grips with
everything. At the beginning I wanted to know everything, thought I knew
everything, and of course it all had to be completed before I started the task.
You know the feeling of impatience.
Today I am still on a learning curve, but have time; one thing after the other and taking small steps to reach the target. The rush jobs are no longer necessary. I am not going anywhere, and stress is now a thing of the past. There are no actual incidents that I treasure; it is just a matter of learning by doing, one thing after the other.
Perhaps a simple example is the picture of the salad sauce I make myself. Did I know how to make a salad sauce when I was say twenty years old? We just threw a bottle of Heinz 57 varieties Salad Cream on the salads I ate in England. Salad sauces were something foreign and we English did not bath our salads in olive oil. During the first time of living with a Swiss he found I could make a salad instead of cooking vegetable. I confessed I had never made a salad sauce in my life. No problem and I got a free demonstration of how to do it from Mr. Swiss. That was the beginning. Forty-six years later my salad sauce is not just vinegar, spice and olive oil, but has developed into a happening, an event. I grow herbs in my little garden, cut them and toss the fresh herbs into the sauce. I use various spices, some mustard and mayonnaise and am particular about the sort of olive oil and vinegar I use. I am not going to give detailed instructions, everyone has their own ideas and mine may not be the best. I just want to say that learning the design of a salad sauce taught me that there are no rules, just follow your nose.
Today I am patient; do not have to finish a job within minutes. I take on a task, think about it and then begin. I discovered when I was a working woman that a work problem did not always have to be solved at once: sleeping over it through the night worked wonders. The next morning when I entered the office, I had a new approach and perhaps a better idea for the solution.
Even my daily blogs follow a similar pattern, although I do not have as much time as I would like to have to think about it. I only get the job at two in the afternoon and it should be written by evening. I am not no longer a night owl and do not sit at my computer until midnight. I think about things. I check my blog through and might change some grammar, correct mistakes (with a little help from my Bill Gates grammar correction on the computer). A mistake I often make is forming an opinion without taking time to think about it. Direct action is not always the best way and it is sometimes better to wait before expressing an idea.
I have said it before and say it again, at my age (almost 67) I wish I knew what I know now when I was 20 years old, but that is life.
I have learnt to accept the responsibility of having children and bringing them to become adults with no big problems. Perhaps I have been lucky. I have learnt to cook (I hope), have learnt four foreign languages. I have learnt what multi-tasking is and what coping is all about: these lessons all from life’s experiences.
What did it all teach me about myself? My life’s motto is you have nothing to lose, think about it, take your time and do it.
Today I am still on a learning curve, but have time; one thing after the other and taking small steps to reach the target. The rush jobs are no longer necessary. I am not going anywhere, and stress is now a thing of the past. There are no actual incidents that I treasure; it is just a matter of learning by doing, one thing after the other.
Perhaps a simple example is the picture of the salad sauce I make myself. Did I know how to make a salad sauce when I was say twenty years old? We just threw a bottle of Heinz 57 varieties Salad Cream on the salads I ate in England. Salad sauces were something foreign and we English did not bath our salads in olive oil. During the first time of living with a Swiss he found I could make a salad instead of cooking vegetable. I confessed I had never made a salad sauce in my life. No problem and I got a free demonstration of how to do it from Mr. Swiss. That was the beginning. Forty-six years later my salad sauce is not just vinegar, spice and olive oil, but has developed into a happening, an event. I grow herbs in my little garden, cut them and toss the fresh herbs into the sauce. I use various spices, some mustard and mayonnaise and am particular about the sort of olive oil and vinegar I use. I am not going to give detailed instructions, everyone has their own ideas and mine may not be the best. I just want to say that learning the design of a salad sauce taught me that there are no rules, just follow your nose.
Today I am patient; do not have to finish a job within minutes. I take on a task, think about it and then begin. I discovered when I was a working woman that a work problem did not always have to be solved at once: sleeping over it through the night worked wonders. The next morning when I entered the office, I had a new approach and perhaps a better idea for the solution.
Even my daily blogs follow a similar pattern, although I do not have as much time as I would like to have to think about it. I only get the job at two in the afternoon and it should be written by evening. I am not no longer a night owl and do not sit at my computer until midnight. I think about things. I check my blog through and might change some grammar, correct mistakes (with a little help from my Bill Gates grammar correction on the computer). A mistake I often make is forming an opinion without taking time to think about it. Direct action is not always the best way and it is sometimes better to wait before expressing an idea.
I have said it before and say it again, at my age (almost 67) I wish I knew what I know now when I was 20 years old, but that is life.
I have learnt to accept the responsibility of having children and bringing them to become adults with no big problems. Perhaps I have been lucky. I have learnt to cook (I hope), have learnt four foreign languages. I have learnt what multi-tasking is and what coping is all about: these lessons all from life’s experiences.
What did it all teach me about myself? My life’s motto is you have nothing to lose, think about it, take your time and do it.
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