Jack of All Trades, Master of... Very Few.

Today I am linking up with Mama Kat's writer's workshop :)

Tell the story of trying to learn a new talent or hobby that you only pursued briefly.

I often consider myself a Jack of all trades, master of none. I really enjoy diving into new hobbies, but as soon as I stop seeing the potential for me to be good at them I become discouraged and would rather try something else new instead. Here are just a few of my special but short-lived talents:

1. This one time in middle school I was an actress. I spent 2 semesters enrolled in theater classes, and was part of two productions. In one I was Snow White, and in the other I was a girl in a summer camp who flirted with a boy named Aaron Winklestein by seductively sliding my hand up his canteen strap (yes that is all I remember about that experience because it was terrifying). I guess my brain forgot that I am actually the most introverted, stage-fright-prone person ever so I gave up.

2. I was in ice-skating lessons for quite a while as a younger child. I really enjoyed them because my local rink was set up where you collected patches for each level of instruction you successfully completed. There were 8 levels total with 2 additional levels after for people who were really serious about skating. I worked my way up through the 7th level and proudly displayed my patches on my ice skating bag, but when I went to take the test that woud allow me to graduate to the level 8 class, I failed. Frustrated, I repeated the level 7 class. When I didn't pass a second time, I decided that the universe was telling me ice skating wasn't my calling in life and moved on.

3. In high school I went out on a limb and joined the track and cross country team to fulfill my physical education requirement. I don't know if I can even list this experience as a talent, because I was AWFUL. I was consistently battling just not to be the last person to finish from my team. One race I sprained both of my ankles. Track season was a little better because I at least was somewhat conditioned by then. Still slow, but not totally dying during every race. There's this idea that tall thin girls should theoretically be good at a number of sports -- I am often asked if I play basketball, volleyball etc. My coach thought I would make the perfect hurdle jumper for this reason. Big mistake. While I did improve over the course of a few weeks, there is something innately terrifying about running as fast as you can head on into a hard metal object and resisting the urge to jump until the last possible second (or to run around it and avoid it altogether, like a normal human being). Luckily my coach took mercy on me and I never actually competed in hurdles!

Overall I'm glad I had these experiences and enjoyed the activities at the time. But it really took me a while to find hobbies that I enjoy AND am good at. What activities have you attempted but not stuck with for too long?