Learning How To

Learning is so difficult, and yet we never stop. But sometimes learning how to do something is one of the most frustrating experiences to go through.

Today, I fiddled with one of my keyboards in an attempt to desolder it. I had killed my last board whilst desoldering, and I was trying my best not to repeat that process today. I spent the past few days watching all sorts of videos on desoldering, in hope that the visual learning would impact the actual way that I could do it.

It didn’t help. Maybe it did, but in my mind, it could have gone a lot better. Maybe if I had a better set of equipment, I would be able to apply my learning better. I will be receiving some new equipment soon, after the Black Friday buys of the week before. Maybe then my practical work would improve.

But learning how to do something is so hard.

Learning how to care for people is even harder. You would think that being human, you would all be the same, but everyone is different. In fact, everyone is so different that labels should really not be applied. There is no same way that everyone sees the world. Instead, we see it through the lens that we see. Our parents, who nurtured our lens, see the world completely different from us.

And it’s hard to learn to love, because I would give and take love so differently from other people. My wife is my good and able volunteer in this, and we learn from each other. We know this, and we acknowledge it, through our marriage.

But what about strangers, or friends? We only have our simple bond or agreement over something, and nothing more. Can we still learn to love?

I have no answers. I see and watch what people recommend, through books, through movies, through podcasts, through all forms of recorded communication, but nothing is the same as the every day interactions that I have. I have my wife, who sharpens me, and trains me to be a better communicator, and a better person who loves. But that makes me only the best person for my wife. I still need to practice and be a better friend to many more people.

So learning how to is just difficult as a whole. And yet, we can be much better people at the end of it. I like that, and I look forward to seeing myself in a better place after the years have gone by.