I set myself a goal to blog weekly and it reached Sunday night and this blog was one of the few things left to achieve this week. NOPE, I thought. I’m not ending the week not having done this. No way.
So that’s how I found myself at 10pm on a Sunday night racking my brain for things to blog about — something that combined self-improvement with what a lot of this blog is all about…being an artist.
Here are five skills I want to learn. Although not all are directly related to the art I make upon first glance, they kind of are. They’ll help me to become a more rounded person which always improves the art you make.
1. Dancing
Okay — worst kept secret about me is that I looove to dance. It makes me so joyful, and yet I’ve never taken consistent dance lessons. Towards the end of my studies at Royal Holloway, I was part of the dance society, but since then I haven’t danced consistently at all. I do have professional movement training. However, I have no dance training whatsoever and without trying to be arrogant — I think I would get pretty good pretty fast if I took it up. I usually pick up choreography very quickly & it’s the type of exercise that I have so much fun doing it’s a no-brainer really. The top styles I would love to learn are:
- hip hop
- salsa/tango
2. Cooking
Again, I used to be a fairly strong cook at university, but I noticed that afterwards I became really lazy with my cooking. I have an experimental/creative flair when I cook, so don’t tend to follow recipes. Still, I would like to learn some awesome recipes and make some peng dishes yo.
3. Relationship Vulnerability
There’s probably a name for this — wait, is it intimacy? It’s intimacy isn’t it? Ehhh, whatever. So here’s the lowdown — my default is to shut down/be emotionally distant when it comes to romantic developments. This time last year I was in a relationship and it was bloody hard (for me, not for him, he was a romantic) to let my guard down and just enjoy being with him. Lots of people get into relationships and brighten up and seem so much lighter and free? I’ve always felt trapped by them, but I would like to chillaaaax and see if I can learn how to enjoy this human connection (wow, I sound like a robot init). Love isn’t a skill per se, but communication, vulnerability and openness which are necessary for love to flourish are totally things to be practiced, in my opinion.
4. Video editing
I do some basic editing for my Youtube channel (see below), but I’m looking to up my skills. I find making Youtube videos so fun, because essentially you have to create the concept, write the script, choose a filming location, directing the shoot, then edit it too. All decisions are yours when it comes to framing, SFX and more. It’s all about storytelling (which I obviously love!) I would like to know a tonne more when it comes to shooting, sound, lighting and, of course, editing.
4. Languages
Would like to become fluent in Portuguese and from then on learn some more languages. I would like to learn:
- Twi*
- Italian
- Hawaiian**
*I understand this more or less fluently, but I don’t speak it.
**This one is perhaps the most challenging, seeing as I did a bit of research and it looks like it might be hard to find someone who speaks fluent Hawaiian — if you know anyone, hit me up! There aren’t many resources online either, and the language isn’t spoken in many places. Still…I’m interested.
My primary motivation is to be able to speak with other people. There are so many interesting people in this world, and I think learning a language would be a great step to begin to communicate with them and learn about cultures.
5. Controlling my emotions
This is a skill and a half you know! (And actually something I’ve studied). It’s so easy to be led by emotions but our emotions don’t know the half of it! And a lot of the time, they’re not even based on truth. Whether that’s anger, happiness, sadness, jealousy….sometimes emotions just gotta take a backseat, and I think it’s a really good skill to take stock of emotions but to also take a deep breath and make the decision that needs to be made — whether that’s holding your tongue, speaking out, walking away, etc.
Actually, more than controlling emotions, I would love to get better at not letting my emotions control me. That’s the difference between letting sadness keep you on the couch all day, and feeling sad but hitting the gym anyway — thereby feeling better afterwards. I’ve actually been pretty boss at this lately, but I’m looking forward to learning more about how I work and techniques.
Let me know one or two things you’re interested in learning, down below!
x
anartisttravels 