I’ve been thinking “I can do this” more than I ever have previously in my life. I mean it in the sense of, “If I devote enough time and energy to this, I can accomplish this and accomplish it well.” Cases in point:

-Roller derby: possibly the jumping off point for all this positivity. I started working with the league a year ago, barely being able to skate on quads, not knowing the rules, etc. Now I skate better than 99% of the population (although still one of the worst in the league) and ref with one of the most respected leagues in the country. One year.

-Novel: Although my progress has slackened significantly, I started working on a novel earlier this year independent of NaNoWriMo and was pretty confident it was write something worthwhile. I’m a little stalled on it, mostly due to time, but I won’t give it up. The 80 pages I have still make me laugh, and I easily rate in the best work I’ve done.

-Playing bass for real: I launched myself into playing bass for the Apple Sisters with as much gusto as my four completely unfocused years of playing would let me, and what do you know? It turned out pretty well. I was rarely note perfect in the first few weeks, but I did learn a lot, have fun, and meet some great people. By the second half of our run, the Stems were sounding pretty tight as well.

And so on. I’m approaching a state where my intimidation factor for attaining almost any new skill is zero. I don’t know where my DIY spirit has been hiding my whole life, but it’s finally starting to get me to ignore the fact that I grew up as essentially a talentless child. Now if only I can find a job as a roller-skating comedy bass player. That’s got to exist, right?