I’m generally not very good at using my hands – i.e. I’m not a very good handyman. It annoys me sometimes. It’s manly to be a good handyman. It’s manly to know how to build and how to manipulate things and how to generally help in a physical sort of way.
There are lot of things about me that aren’t manly that I’m a little insecure about. But that’s another topic.
On Friday we did a bit of demolishing inside LightFM’s new building, which we move into in less than two months time. It mainly involved taking walls and cabling apart – by using tools like crowbars, hammers, saws, sledgehammers, pliers and chisels. All stuff that I’m not very confident using.
But after a bit of time gingerly getting used to it and making sure I was doing the right thing (and not making any irreversible mistakes!) I started to realise something: building – which before was something that seemed far off, incomprehensible, and only for the “real men” – is actually not hard when you understand how to do it. It’s methodical, it’s enjoyable, and it’s creative too.
That’s a really, really simple realisation, but it was an epiphany for me.
It was because it was experiential learning – one of my favourite things to do.
Cool things to check out:
I am hopeless at handyman stuff. I sometimes tinker but I’m really not that good.
Where handy friends can offer me a hand with something I wonder what can I offer them. “I’m happy to talk in a radio voice for you if you ever need it.” Doesn’t quite cut it does it?