The Dabbler

Dabbler

I’m a dabbler; I’ll admit it, readily. There isn’t a single one of my talents that I am exceptional at (by any standard besides in the rose colored glasses of those that love me.)

In the past 20 years or so I have dabbled with:

OOAK Dolls
Miniature Armor and Weaponry design
Costumes
Sculptures
Paintings
Pencils
Crayons
Pastels
Carpentry
Cake decorating
Baking
Italian Cuisine, from scratch
Asian Cuisine
Book/ short story Writing
Belly dance
Ballroom Dance
Latin Dance
Architecture
Jewelry making
Knitting
Crocheting
Paper Mache
Carving
Cutting hair
Stage make-up
Acting
Singing
Tile laying
Plumbing
Pergo laying
Dry-walling
Photography
Teaching
Poetry
Interior Design
Set Design
Learning Languages
Song Writing
Blogging
Listening
Public Speaking

There are probably more, but you get the drift.

Now some people would look at that list and think it’s pretty impressive, but remember, I’m not proficient at all of those things, in fact some of them I was really bad at. Some of them I will never go back to, some of them I did today, and some of them I will pick back up in the future. The fact is, though, I will never be among the truly great at ANY of those things.

I’m okay with that, because I’m a dabbler. Dabblers know that it isn’t about being great, or doing better than anyone else. It’s about experiencing something, putting your heart in it for a while, enjoying it, and then letting those obsessed with it carry on with the insane competitiveness while you go on your merry way.

Of course there is nothing wrong with being great at something, lots of people are, and when I am exposed to true greatness at a talent I stand in awe of the time and devotion that greatness requires, as well as the raw God-given talent that inspired said devotion. I applaud the truly great for having what I do not, the desire to achieve a lofty and difficult goal.

But me, I’ll keep dabbling. Maybe my arm will heal up well enough that I can finally take up archery. If not there is always welding (I’ve wanted to try that for over a decade), or pottery, or stained glass window making, or maybe I’ll even learn an instrument (I’d prefer the Guzheng , for reasons only a select few will understand, but the guitar would be fun… left handed, hmmm… maybe not). I’ll keep dabbling, because dabbling brings me joy, and really… what else is there?