Samhain Publishing

… is worth a ton of theory. That’s one of my favourite quotes and it hangs above my computer in big, bold lettering, reminding me to temper my thirst for knowledge with practical application. See, I’m a knowledge junkie, a course groupie, a perennial learner (a title bestowed on me by a beloved teacher many years ago). I’ve always been pretty happy with the situation, but there is a downside – especially for those of us who don’t seem to know when enough is enough, or when it’s time to put all that theory and knowledge we gather into practice.

I’ve always been the same. Whenever I become interested in something I throw myself into finding out everything I can about it. I dissect, explore and scrutinize. I have to KNOW. I’ll read, research, poke and prod until I have a handle on the subject and then, and only then, will I put it into practice. It’s like, if I ain’t perfect, I ain’t doing it – and it’s exhausting.

My latest project is learning the front crawl. Okay, I can swim, but I want to swim like a professional, not the breast stroke with my head out of the water to keep my hair dry like, as my godson calls it “mummy swimming” – equally embarrassing as “dad dancing” apparently. So in order to front crawl like a professional here I am researching the Internet, trawling through books, studying form … anything but just jump in the pool. Like I said, exhausting.

But for all us theorists there comes a time when we have to simply tackle the subject head on, to practice first and trust that our conceptual knowledge will merge and blend. We have to put away the how-to’s and just trust that the doing will take care of the knowing. Hmm. The very thought makes me a little nervous, but what if that ounce of practice really can teach us more than whole bookshelves of theory?

Wish me luck as I jump in the deep end…

Tricia

http://www.tricia-jones.com