learning to be bad at something

a few months ago i took a six week pottery class.

honestly, i hated it.

not because pottery itself was terrible, but because i was terrible at it.

at least i felt really terrible.

i’m not used to that feeling. most creative things i’ve tried in my life have come pretty naturally. pottery did not.

a few weeks ago i picked up the pieces from that class as i started another pottery course. i really want to love pottery.

at first i thought they were shit, honestly. the glaze is blobby and smeary, the shapes are uneven, nothing is particularly refined. but now i’m weirdly proud of them. their imperfections. their quirks. the fact that they exist at all.

my teacher this time around, mentioned a pottery master somewhere, korea, i think, who has students reclaim their clay after every finished piece. nothing gets fired for six months while they learn.

that idea really stayed with me.

i think i’m learning something about letting go a little. about not needing everything i make to be good immediately. about accepting imperfection in my work and honestly in my life too.

and maybe even learning to love the weird blobby pieces along the way.

xo.