Picking up new skills

After University I entered a traditional corporate career trajectory that left me pretty stagnant in the self-development area. Not just at work, but in personal life.

I felt stuck for years. Locked into the job to pay for the house and the car that I needed to keep the job. Stuck with systems like the 9-5 that I disliked but couldn't change. Feeling like it was a struggle to just exist. All of the things I wanted to keep on top of: Commute, progress at work, save money, do the grocery shopping, cook, keep a clean home, see family, socialise, exercise, read more books, have some me-time, go to my appointments for health and dental, take a holiday here and there. Oh and travel. How I wanted to travel.

It felt like a drag. Like something was missing. It was a constant overwhelming cloud over life.

In the middle of all of that, I barely ever made time to learn new skills outside of what I was doing in the workplace. Just keeping my head above water was the main focus. I didn't have the capacity to think about all the cool shit I wanted to learn, and even my creative passion for photography was dwindling.

Even when I started travelling full time, I didn't put myself out there and pick up any new skills. I guess you could say my new skill during that time was managing a whole new lifestyle and everything that comes with it. It wasn't the easiest adjustment period and it took me several months to get into a good flow.

Enter 2019 – the year of learning new shit

This year, without really meaning to, I changed this significantly. I've managed to:

• Learn how to sail a boat
• Learn how to ride a manual motorbike
• Learn how to scuba dive
• Learn loads of new coding / technical skills
• Started drawing

Most of these things have been not related to work in any way and as far away from a computer as you can get and it feels great. I feel like I'm learning again for the first time since... University. That was 10 years ago!