...not that I'm not a team player, I definitely am, it's just that once I join in something, I kinda sorta wished I hadn't....
...it's the commitment part of it I think... all of a sudden people are relying on me and then I feel pressure, I feel I have to do it, and I feel I have to do it well...
...and that just seems burdensome, not right, and it puts me off kilter.
Sometimes I'm not even good at joining in things that don't involve anyone else, that only involves me.
Now, I love learning, and I like trying anything new...
...but there are many a course that I've signed up for and part way through, the thrill fizzles out until it gets to the point where I eventually just drop it... waste my money... wish I'd never started it.
If it's not something that's going to affect my career (that usually gets me finishing it, like it or not), then it's so easy to just chalk it up to "oh well, I'm not going to worry about losing a few dollars for the cost", and I move on...
I'm in the middle of that phase right now... last year I bought myself a lovely new camera, something I've wanted forever...
...along with a new camera, comes new terminology, new techniques... I needed to learn more...
...I could just go online and search out each item...
...but, for some things, hands on practice is so much better and worth paying for, especially when you don't know what it is your trying to do.
So, I signed up for an online course last June, completed the first two exercises, but then hit the third one and "didn't like the homework assignment"... whoa, ambition all of a sudden screeches to a halt... and the course has just sat there until now...
... I can't log in today to get back into it, so I had to write in and ask why...
...while I wait to be let back in... I am searching for the inspiration and motivation to continue on and finish what I started and learn how to use this new camera I have so fallen in love with!
Are you a no joiner inner or do you thrill at joining in on everything and seeing it to completion?
Happy life!
Gosh, this is me writing this post! This is so me!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Heather, I'm not a 'joiner inner' either. I'm reclusive, my husband was that way too, and we were a couple of home bodies, content being together puttering around here. I've thought about going to grief/widow support groups and just can't do it. My neighbor's have invited me to their church and I 'may' go once, but that's a big 'maybe'. Talk about pressure, organized religion is great for that. Join, give $$, obey rules. I would love to have a widow friend who would want to get together now and then to do things with, to talk about our journey, but widow friends so far are dear online friends, and we don't live close, except through our blogs and emails.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're able to get back into the course about your camera. I've never learned what all mine can do either. :-)
Love and hugs to you dear Heather. You are an inspiration to me.
FlowerLady
I very much enjoy my time alone. I just don't have to stay busy 24/7. I do hope you are able to get back into you photography class.
ReplyDeleteI think I am your "sistah . . . precisely me.
ReplyDeleteI commit and then a few weeks in I am pulling my hair out. I do best with short term. But even so, I am better if I have "an out" in case I don't like the class, seminar, party whatever!
I am very content to be by myself . . . Not a joiner, don't have to be doing something every minute, day, week!
Your photos are wonderful . . . any luck with the sock feeder?
Lovely photos ! I am a bit of both it all depends . When it comes to photography as it is a passion of mine I have down loaded all kinds of tips and tricks from the pros and learnt quite a bit and that I have learn't most of what I know through trial and error and just getting out there and playing with my camera , the good thing about these digital cameras is they keep a record of what settings you had with each photo and will load all the info from the camera to your computer when you load your photos that's part of why I use the program Lightroom and that's also how I have found my way round my camera and to better my photos with each photo I take ! I feel that if one wants to learn about something you have to be passionate about it ! Good luck , hope you stick it out cause there is so much to learn about photography and these cameras that even the pro photographers have admitted they will never stop learning or are able to use their cameras to their full potential ! Have a good evening !
ReplyDeleteWe are sisters....of different Mother's and never has this been more true....
ReplyDeleteSigh...
JEn
A "joiner-in"? No, not me, either, but sometimes it is necessary to do the best we can. I just recently took a photography class and forget the battery, which I had put on the charger the evening before. How about that for a former school teacher? This post is another of my favorites!
ReplyDeleteI'm selective about what I join but love to complete things. I like to challenge myself. Not finishing something would torture me. Sometimes not finishing is a way of self sabotage to avoid possible failure. If I make a mess of things, I've just learned what NOT to do and then try it again. I can be a bit tenacious.
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it, I started a program this fall but purposely didn't do everything required to become a certified naturalist because I don't have time to commit to the volunteer portion of the program. Not completing that didn't torture me at all! It was more of a relief. :o)
DeleteI'm a little like this too. Anything I start has to be done quick before I get bored of it.
ReplyDeletexo Catherine
I'm not a joiner-inner either. I enjoy visiting with other people, but not in clubs, classes, or groups. I like to read/research things and learn at my own pace, and because of this, I finish what I'm interested in learning. No classes or assignments! :)
ReplyDeleteYour photos are already amazing, Heather. Maybe chatting back and forth with another blogger (like Jen who takes beautiful photos as well) you could learn what you are most interested in?
On your blog, I’m not the minority for once – having always been an introvert (painfully shy on every level but the written one). Looks like a great deal of your readers relate to you, myself included. In fact, my business degree was put on hold indefinitely because the last four, yes LAST four, classes heavily revolved around group projects. I don’t do groups outside of my family and sometimes they’re questionable (that’s a joke – kind of).
ReplyDeleteYour writing is exceptional. And I love the pictures of the birds in this post.
Have a wonderful week.
- from one of the many in your group of introverts/no joiner inners (an oxymoron if I ever saw one).
eli
I love to join because I love new experiences and people. I get your frustration with the camera, but the pictures of the birds are beautiful, just breathtaking. I also wanted to mention that when I first saw your header today, my eyes were tricked into thinking those were girls dancing up there! So pretty. Ann
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, that post was like reading about me, I am so NOT a joiner inner either for exactly the same reasons. I always say that I have a VERY short attention span, if I am not being constantly amused (and that's according to my criteria of what is amusing!) I totally lose interest and move on. Give me a deadline and I will meet it every time (usually after pulling an all-nighter) but give me flexibility and room to 'fudge' and I will blow it off and never complete a darn thing. Fear of failure? Fear of commitment? Fear of disappointing myself, friends or family? Don't know what it is but it is who I am and after MANY years of trying to be someone I'm not, I've accepted it and here I am, take it or leave it (and preferably leave it because I really don't want to feel obligated to live up to anyone else's expectations :O)
ReplyDelete