How the true pleasure of doing shapes our being
„When I was 15, I worked for a month on an archaeological dig. Once, during my lunch break, I was talking to one of the archaeologists and he asked her one of those „getting to know you“ questions that people ask each other: „Do you play sports? What's your favorite subject?“ I told him I didn't play sports. I told him I was in the school theater, sang in the choir, played violin and piano, and that I had once taken art classes.
He exclaimed „Wow! That's amazing!“ and I said, „Oh no, I'm not good at any of those things.“.
Then he said something that I will never forget and that completely blew me away because no one had ever said it to me before, „I don't think being good at something is what you do it for. I think each of these wonderful experiences and different skills has taught you something and made you a more interesting person, regardless of how well you do at it. “j
And honestly it changed my life. Because I went from being a failure, someone who wasn't talented enough to be a master at something, to someone who does things because he enjoys them. I was brought up in such a success-focused environment, steeped in the myth of talent, that I thought it was only worth doing something if you were going to „win“ at it.“
Kurt Vonnegut
