That Sounds Fun by Annie F. DownsSample

Day 4

Embrace Your Inner Amateur

Exodus 6:30, 19:9; Ecclesiastes 3:4, 9:7, 10

One day I watched a little pup, a French bulldog, hanging out in a hotel lobby with the valet, who kept doing what humans do to dogs: riling him up, messing with his legs and face, rubbing his back and belly. He kept making the dog growl then bark, and the valet would break into the biggest smile and look around at all of us in the lobby to see who was laughing along with him. His smile was so genuine, I couldn’t look away.

What I love about this interaction is that no one was making money off of it. It was pure, a good reminder to me of Eden. No one rushed up to the valet to say, “Dude, you are so good at petting that dog. Have you thought about changing jobs and becoming a dog petter?” 

This is a silly example, but it matters, because some things are just meant to be fun. Some things are meant to teach us and grow us and bring us joy, not income.

Often we use the word amateur to describe someone who makes a mistake. The actual definition is so much better: Doing something for pleasure rather than for professional reasons. Admiring something and being devoted. Doing something for fun. 

If our guts are always speaking to us about looking for Eden, why would we stop doing things for fun and start requiring everything to be for profit or benefit?

Dropping in to a new yoga class can feel intimidating if you think everyone else knows right where to put their mat or what to do with those foam blocks. I hate appearing new or unskilled or ignorant. Maybe you hate it too. At the root of so many things, we don’t want to look like we don’t know what we’re doing. But this has stunted growth and squelched conversations and stopped us from being brave. 

If I think I can only do something I’m great at, or something I can fake greatness in, I will live a very limited life. And it legitimately kills some degree of fun when we aren’t allowed to be amateurs, by opportunity or by choice. 

If you could enjoy an activity even if you’re bad at it—or if you could do something well only for the joy of it—what would those things be?