My first thought was that I'd love to write and publish a novel. I've had some experience writing short fiction and I'm part of a writer's group, but with 12 months left to go on my thesis, there'll be no time for anything except non-fiction writing for a while.
My second thought, since you brought up the dance example, reminded me that dance performance has been a life-long dream of mine, but I definitely lack the skills of timing and spatial awareness and I judge myself far too harshly to give it much of a go. I took up pole dancing a few years ago as a brain break from study (since I can't very well agonise over an essay when I'm upside-down). There are 5 showcases for family and friends each year and so far, I've averaged 2 a year which is pretty exciting for me and I love getting a little taste of the spotlight and doing something about that dream in a small way.
There are benefits to being literally and figuratively upside-down, sometimes!
I think you can develop those timing and spacial awareness skills with time, but being self-judgmental about such things can be a difficult reflex to break (though that's another "work out the muscle and you'll tend to get better at it" corner of personal development, I think).
Probably prudent to focus on the thesis, but that doesn't mean you can't start taking notes and mapping out ideas for when those 12 months are up :)
Am I trying to be the best version of myself that I can be? No.
But do I aim to constantly improve? Also, no.
As far as new skills (ignoring music related ones for a change) I'd love to be a better linguist. I have some limited skill (approximately 500-1000 words) across 5 languages that are not my native language. Being able to communicate well with non-English speakers (especially Arabic, Russian and Chinese) seems to be a skill that the world really needs right now.
Haha, I've heard versions of that one—sometimes it feels that way, even if the truth is more complex :)
Linguistics! I'm jealous of anyone who can learn languages consistently and capably; I'm hoping new translation tech continues to improve to help span this gap in my knowledge, but I also know that learning languages changes your brain in valuable ways, so even with that technological exoskeleton I'm missing out on some of the benefits of that learning and knowing endeavor.
Mostly the language thing has been organic. Our school system did a semester each of French, German, Italian and Spanish in 7th & 8th grade, then you had to pick and do a year or two in High School, so I was pretty far into French before I dropped out. Then I ended up doing a year of French in college, but by that time I was travelling, so I made an effort to learn whatever I knew of French in the new language. A couple tricks that have served me really well are, 1) learn pairs of words and pronouns in the same order, in each new language. I, you, he/she, we, they, then Please/thankyou, Yes/no, good/bad, near/far, left/right, hot/cold, and so on. I have a spread sheet to keep track. 2) Learn critical verbs and their conjugations first. Go, Do, Be, (good advice at any time), eat, drink, smoke, f*ck, sleep, and so on. Next, question words. Who, What, Where, When, How, Why, How much/many, Which. Then a bunch of useful nouns depending on where you're going and what you're doing. You quickly get to 500 and if you learn them in the same order every time they are stickier. Japanese was easier to learn to speak than read (3 writing systems?!?!). Chinese grammar is dead easy but the tonal part of the language is hard AF. Hao? Hao! Hao... all different. Aaaanyway...hope you like the song I sent!
New skills...
My first thought was that I'd love to write and publish a novel. I've had some experience writing short fiction and I'm part of a writer's group, but with 12 months left to go on my thesis, there'll be no time for anything except non-fiction writing for a while.
My second thought, since you brought up the dance example, reminded me that dance performance has been a life-long dream of mine, but I definitely lack the skills of timing and spatial awareness and I judge myself far too harshly to give it much of a go. I took up pole dancing a few years ago as a brain break from study (since I can't very well agonise over an essay when I'm upside-down). There are 5 showcases for family and friends each year and so far, I've averaged 2 a year which is pretty exciting for me and I love getting a little taste of the spotlight and doing something about that dream in a small way.
There are benefits to being literally and figuratively upside-down, sometimes!
I think you can develop those timing and spacial awareness skills with time, but being self-judgmental about such things can be a difficult reflex to break (though that's another "work out the muscle and you'll tend to get better at it" corner of personal development, I think).
Probably prudent to focus on the thesis, but that doesn't mean you can't start taking notes and mapping out ideas for when those 12 months are up :)
Today's post reminds me of a joke.
Am I trying to be the best version of myself that I can be? No.
But do I aim to constantly improve? Also, no.
As far as new skills (ignoring music related ones for a change) I'd love to be a better linguist. I have some limited skill (approximately 500-1000 words) across 5 languages that are not my native language. Being able to communicate well with non-English speakers (especially Arabic, Russian and Chinese) seems to be a skill that the world really needs right now.
Haha, I've heard versions of that one—sometimes it feels that way, even if the truth is more complex :)
Linguistics! I'm jealous of anyone who can learn languages consistently and capably; I'm hoping new translation tech continues to improve to help span this gap in my knowledge, but I also know that learning languages changes your brain in valuable ways, so even with that technological exoskeleton I'm missing out on some of the benefits of that learning and knowing endeavor.
Mostly the language thing has been organic. Our school system did a semester each of French, German, Italian and Spanish in 7th & 8th grade, then you had to pick and do a year or two in High School, so I was pretty far into French before I dropped out. Then I ended up doing a year of French in college, but by that time I was travelling, so I made an effort to learn whatever I knew of French in the new language. A couple tricks that have served me really well are, 1) learn pairs of words and pronouns in the same order, in each new language. I, you, he/she, we, they, then Please/thankyou, Yes/no, good/bad, near/far, left/right, hot/cold, and so on. I have a spread sheet to keep track. 2) Learn critical verbs and their conjugations first. Go, Do, Be, (good advice at any time), eat, drink, smoke, f*ck, sleep, and so on. Next, question words. Who, What, Where, When, How, Why, How much/many, Which. Then a bunch of useful nouns depending on where you're going and what you're doing. You quickly get to 500 and if you learn them in the same order every time they are stickier. Japanese was easier to learn to speak than read (3 writing systems?!?!). Chinese grammar is dead easy but the tonal part of the language is hard AF. Hao? Hao! Hao... all different. Aaaanyway...hope you like the song I sent!