I love to learn.

Funnily, I didn’t consciously realise I could learn without going to school until a few years ago (perhaps that’s one reason I love reading so much – I learn about things at my own pace!). Sometimes, though, instruction books are a little too laborious to actually read through or there aren’t enough pictures for me to be certain I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Ergo, it’s been fun to find new ways to be taught something if reading about it doesn’t work well.

• Learning through doing. So many people who are crafty say the same thing – just pluck up your courage to try something new and go for it. My fear of failure personality tends to not want to try new things, but that’s not particularly helpful if I’m actually wanting to learn something. Cooking? Sewing? Writing? I just have to pluck up my courage and push aside that fear of failure and do the thing!

• Learning through listening. This can be done by listening to audio books or to podcasts. Sometimes listening to a book about a particular time in history helps more than visually reading that same book. Podcasts offer a way to glean information as well on things you may not have a book about. You can listen to sermons, lectures, book discussions, movie reviews, and much more while you’re doing something else. One of the podcasts I listen to is on quilting. By listening to the speakers I am able to retain some information I may have read in a book but because it’s in a conversational format I remember better.

• Learning through watching. There are so many people with their own vlogs on how to sew, how to become a carpenter, how to draw, etc. My favourites of these are on sewing. If I don’t understand exactly what was done the first time I watch it I can go back and re-watch it until I get it. Another thing I like about watching videos is the commentary. Occasionally there’s a technique I didn’t know existed because the book I had didn’t mention it, or there is an explanation on why to do something a certain way that a book may not have explained.

Honestly, sometimes it’s not even about learning how to do something or making sure you’re retaining all of the information. Just watching something being made on a crafting vlog, seeing someone else’s wonder at learning from a travel show, or hearing about something new to you via a podcast conversation can be really inspiring.