Day 141

Something learned:

To improve you need to be able to critique your own work. To learn to critique your own work, you should practice giving feedback on others' work. This is what I found so valuable about writing workshops - learning to give constructive criticism. Learning to find the flaws in a work and figuring out how it could be done better. Applying that skill to your own work makes you a better craftsman., no matter the craft.

Something I would like to get better at:

Not being afraid to indulge my curiosity.

At the Memorial Day activities, I saw many white people in period dress and military uniforms. But there was one African American man in rags and chains and I was deeply curious about why he was participating in the reenactment. I was afraid to ask him though, either of offending him or starting an interaction that gets out of control.

I walked away but now I think I may have missed out on an opportunity to hear an interesting viewpoint on the whole affair, because of my fear.

Perhaps I'll remember this incident next time and choose differently.

Today I was thankful for

1. Getting to try southern BBQ
2. Seeing the unique sight of the Confederate Memorial Day activities.
3. Trying the South Carolina state snack of boiled peanuts
4. Driving a convertible with the top down
5. Yummy ribs from the hotel restaurant no less

Looking forward to:

Seeing my cousin

Day 32

Something learned:

Courage isn't the lack of fear, but proceeding despite feeling fear.

If you weren't fearful about something, it doesn't take much to go and do it. But if you felt very fearful but overcame it to finish, that takes a lot.

Looking back, I don't think I've needed courage very often -- mostly because I've underestimated the difficulty of many paths I've chosen, and proceeded down them without much fear. It was easy! The hard part was the work that came along later.

Hopefully if my courage does get tested someday, I'll won't disgrace myself.

Today I was thankful for:

1. 7 people showed up to sing carols today! Four basses, but still. We sang!
2. Looking forward to doing a small concert at work tomorrow.
3. Kimberly liking the Buddha Board I got her.
4. Proud of kid earning 2 black stripes for her belt at one go.
5. Watched Elysium via Chromecast. So much easier than Google TV

A hope:

I want to volunteer more. It's hard when I'm too introverted to enjoy interacting with strangers. When I do community service, I prefer manual labor tasks, but those seem hard to find.