Are You Really Good At Something You Don't Enjoy? - YouLookFab Forum

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Are You Really Good At Something You Don't Enjoy?

Windchime

Veteran

This is kind of in response to doubleh's thread about loving something but not being good at it. I have a piano student--a 10-year-old boy--who's one of the most talented students I've had in 20-plus years of teaching. He catches on so quickly and has the physical coordination to back it up. He plays musically, with wonderful expression. But he doesn't like it and, according to his mom, will probably quit. He likes me, enjoys coming for lessons, practices--he has more natural ability than most people. But it's just not his thing. It makes me kind of sick.

Anyway, is there something you're really good at but you don't enjoy doing?

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24 replies

Latest reply was from rachylou

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

Yup. I'm good at piano ... I went and got my RCM Grade 11, but I hated every moment of playing piano (I wish I had a nice piano teacher, but I had a very terrible lady who would stand over me with a wood ruler and whack when I played incorrectly and had threatened more than once to lock me up without food if I didn't practice - this was when I was in high school).

MsMary

Veteran

I knew a boy like that in high school -- he was a ridiculously talented piano player but wanted to be an actor instead. He just didn't value his musical gifts at all. As you say, it made me feel a little sick.

I can't think of anything like that in my life, though.

crutcher

Veteran

Unloading the dishwasher, giving the toliets a brush, folding clothes, cooking daily day in day out...shopping...I excell at grocery shopping...Is this enough of my wonderful good ats that I don't really enjoy...Maybe I had best go back to my fantasy life...where these things are not necessary...smile..

deb

Veteran

My son was like your student. He still can pick up an instrument and make music in an hour. Silly boy.

Me, teaching elementary school. I went to college for it, kids love me, I did my student teaching and got high marks, but I hated every minute of it because I wanted to take the kids that needed mothering home with me. It just broke my heart. I went into banking, instead. Less emotion.

rabbit

Veteran

Like deb says -- teaching was that way for me too, since I found it so emotionally draining in traditional classroom settings.

Also I'm good at doing our taxes.

Peri

Veteran

Windchime, I didn't know you taught piano...me too. I've had a student like you are talking about. Sad. Don't you wish sometimes you could take that talent and give it to someone who wants it and doesn't have any?

Lyn, your story makes me want to cry. Seriously. I want to give you lessons and track down and smack your former teacher. I wish you had the time to try again as an adult because it could easily become something you love.

doubleh

Veteran

Ooph, my sister was like that growing up. She was good at running and gymnastics but hated both. I desperately wanted to be a gymnast and thought it so unfair she was squandering her natural abilities... I'm going to have to think on that one for myself. I generally don't mind things I'm good at.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I'm very good with numbers and proofreading and all kinds of analytics, but sitting at a desk is a slow death for me. I'd rather be on my feet and serving food and drinks to the public, interacting with different people on a daily basis.

Gigi

Veteran

Math. I was always very good at numbers, but I found it all very boring.

Windchime

Veteran

Oh, LYN--I wish I could give your response a compassion award. Me feeling compassionate toward you, that is. It's remarkable that you went so far in piano with such a cold, mean teacher. I hope, along with Peri, that you will someday have the opportunity to work with a kind, supportive piano teacher.

MSMARY--When talents were handed out, the boy you knew got more than his fair share! Hopefully he found opportunities to use his music in his acting career.

Windchime

Veteran

Sorry about my chopped-up replies to your responses; my Nook messes up formatting after several lines.

CRUTCHER--I thought someone might bring up housekeeping tasks. Many people have become very skilled at them through repetition but sure don't have a passion for them. Quick--back to your fantasy life!

DEB and RABBIT--Finding that your hearts were broken by the needs of some of your students says a lot about the size of your hearts and your skill in empathizing. I would have a difficult time volinteering at an animal shelter for similar reasons.

Windchime

Veteran

PERI--Yes, I've seen you mention teaching piano a couple times! Teaching piano is my secondary work. I started doing it years ago to supplement my income and soon realized I loved it.

The irony is that my student's older sister truly loves piano but doesn't have nearly the amount of natural ability her brother has. However, she will ultimately surpass him because she loves it enough to put in the hours of hard work.

DOUBLEH--I would have been very jealous of my sibling, in your shoes. It just doesn't seem quite fair, does it? I do believe that, within reason, if people pursue what they love, they will eventually achieve at least some amount of success. But that's hard to grasp, especially as a child!

Windchime

Veteran

MO--You brilliantly combine your analytical skills with your enjoyment of interacting with people here on YLF all the time! I bet you use that aptitude in other areas of your life and work, too.

GIGI--That's really interesting to me. Do you think that, like Mo, you use your aptitude for numbers indirectly, if not in paid employment?

Gigi

Veteran

Windchime, I think that the numbers side of me is an analytical side, so I like to do things like have a spreadsheet to track my closet, etc. I was also very good at music, and there is a lot of math that goes on behind the scenes in music. So I suppose you are right, that the numbers side of me gets out in different ways.

MsMary

Veteran

Oh, when I was in the private practice of law I was really good at it. And I hated it. I'd completely repressed that whole episode...

bj1111

Veteran

Being frugal.

bj1111

Veteran

@Mo, that explains all the spreadsheets /stats of your clothes. I've always wondered where you got the energy.

Cerinda

Veteran

I'm just wizard at logistics. Ick. Not my favorite part of my multi-faceted work, but a skill my colleagues lean on and claim to appreciate.

doubleh

Veteran

Thought of one- parallel parking!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I'm very good at housecleaning. Although sometimes I do enjoy cleaning, in a therapeutic, getting-things-done way.

I'm good at speaking in front of a group, even though it terrifies me.

And I'm actually a pretty decent cook, although I don't particularly enjoy it and don't do it very often.

Oh yeah, I'm good at doing the taxes and managing finances, but... snore...

froggiebecky

Veteran

I am a master of cutting through red tape. My dad says I would have been a devastating lawyer.... I got the alimony out of my butt-headed ex-husband who was in the military (I might have also gotten him a dishonourable discharge..but it was his actions that were dishonourable, not mine). I also bought my first house as a foreclosure, beating out 3 other investors, then turned it around and sold it a year later for enough profit to pay for my schooling.

I'm also a whiz at a sewing machine, but I HATE doing tailoring. I pay to get my pants hemmed. Friends finally stopped asking me to do that for them.

Isabel

Veteran

Wow, this is so interesting. Personally, I cannot think of anything. But you reminded me of my daughter, who is 11. She used to take guitar and vocals privately and flute in school. Her teachers have all said that she is one of the most naturally talented kids that they have had ( musically ). But she has quit guitar and voice and rarely practices the flute. She is an experimenter that loves to try everything. Furthermore, she told me that she doesn't like the "structure" of practice. She doesn't like regiments. Very interesting.

Karie

(website)

Veteran

So interesting! I'm good at fixing things. Appliances, computers, you name it. And I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, and I really dislike doing it. I've never watched anyone fix anything and never been trained in any way, yet somehow I can figure it out. I've fixed everything from commercial washing machines (my in-laws used to own a laundromat) to computers to coffee makers. Family members always come to me and I want to run in the other direction.

I'm also good at doing educational presentations, and I really dislike that too. Speaking/presenting in front of a group of people always makes me nervous.

rachylou

Veteran

I'm good at hostessing and glad handing, and can't stand it. I do find it more palatable, tho, if I can stay in character 24/7.