How to do anything

I have often had the experience when I show off a new project that someone says, “I could never make that.”  I’ve always thought this an odd statement as these are usually people who don’t quilt or sew at all and have never even tried.  How do they know they can’t?

We are told when we are young that we can do anything if we only try.  When we get older we believe that this is just one of those things you tell children to encourage them like nothing is impossible or dreams come true.  When we get older our eyes are opened to all of the impossibilities that exist all around us.  Perhaps we misinterpret the famous Yoda quote, “Do or do not, there is no try.”  This could be misconstrued to mean, “If at first you don’t succeed, you may as well give up because clearly you can’t do it anyway.”  All due respect to Yoda, but I tend to believe what Thomas Edison said on the subject, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”

In my opinion, there are only two skills you need in order to be able to do anything: the ability to learn, and the ability to work.  These are two skills anyone can have.  Think about it, anything in the world you can do if you just learn how to do it and work until you have it right.  That’s not to say that some things won’t come easier than others, but I have a hard time believing that things are completely beyond our capabilities.

My sister is a teacher.  When her students tell her that they can’t do something, her response is simple, “You can’t do it yet.”  (She has also been known to use this same line on me from time to time.)  Just because we can’t do something now doesn’t mean that we never will.  Just look at what we have learned already on our short time on this planet.  When we got here we couldn’t walk, talk, eat, read, write, sew, dance, play sports, paint. . . you see what I mean.  Everything we can do now, there was once a time that we couldn’t.  If we can do all of that, we can do anything!