”You’re never too old to learn something new.” A quote that I have heard several times during my life. Sometimes I have to tell it to myself, because even though I am only 24 years old, sometimes I do feel really old. There are moments that I am taken over by insecurities: ”what did I actually accomplish in these past 24 years?” I had big dreams for the future and goals that I wanted to reach before graduating college. Well, I do have a college degree now and really wonder: what did I accomplisch?
I still have big dreams and plans, but I am being held back by my own insecurities. I want to be able to make a living by writing and making video’s because that’s what I really enjoy (and what I went to school for). But there is so much more than being creative, if you really want to make enough money to survive with a creative career, you need to be able to sell yourself, your services and your work. You have to know how to file all the tax papers, have basic knowledge about marketing and just have a lot of knowledge in general. Things that I haven’t learnt in general and sometimes I wonder: will I ever be able to learn these things. There are so many people that already know so much more about all those topics and in my mind, they will always be better that I am.
‘If only I stared blogging in high school or made Youtube videos during my high school year in the US.’ Instead I was watching Youtube, Netflix series and read hundreds of articles about One Directions. So many times I times I regret not working so hard when I was younger. If I did back than, I would have known more by now and be more successful.
It was a Facetime conversation with my 86-years old grandma that made me realize that it’s true: you are never too old to learn something new. Over three years ago my grandma passed away, totally unexpected, after a fall in the living room. My grandpa was 82 at the time and barely knew anything about tasks like cooking and doing laundry. My grandma had always been responsible for these tasks while he was doing the gardening and administrative tasks.
After my grandma passed, he could have chosen to hire someone to do these tasks for him, but he chose not too. He learned how to do laundry and step by step he added more chores. For a long time he was ordering (microwave) meals at Foodconnect, because he wasn’t even able to bake and egg, but still had to eat dinner.
Last week I was talking to him on Facetime (also a thing that he learned since my grandma has passed) and het told me his plans for the rest of the day, with a big smile. ”I am going to boil potatoes and bake some meat. And yesterday I made myself a pan of soup.” That is the moment when I realized that the saying is really true: you are never too old to learn something new.
I think this mindset runs in the family, because my mom is still learning new things as well. At the age of 49, she started to follow classes to become a yoga teacher. By now she is doing yoga on a daily bas, stands on her head at least once a week and is way more flexible than her 24-years old daughter, oops.
So if my 86-years old grandpa is learning how to cook and my mother learning how to become a yoga teacher, I stil have along list of skills to add to my list.
