A new year is a time for new beginnings, trying new things. Learning a new skill is not just fun, it boosts your confidence and empowers your brain. As children, we embrace art. We paint and colour with abandon. We squish and squeeze clay, shaping it with our imaginations and our fingers. Children naturally delight in what they create.
As they get older, too often creativity gets pushed aside. The focus shifts to lessons that focus on honing a skill to execute a dance step or a piece of music precisely according to the instructions so it is exactly like everyone else doing it. The visual arts tend to fall by the wayside, and they are the one art form where doing it your own unique way is prized above replicating something precisely. By the time we are adults, we are cheerfully telling each other that we can’t draw, can’t paint, can’t create or improvise.
But we are all born to create. Every one of us has an innate ability to make art, art that is gloriously, uniquely our own. We don’t lose that when we grow up. We can get in touch with our creativity at any age. Wouldn’t it feel amazing to give yourself permission to explore that ability now? To learn the skills that allow you to express yourself in painting, drawing or craft making?
Confidence without Competition
Learning a new skill is a great way to boost your confidence. Whether you take a once off workshop or commit to a course that stretches over several weeks, learning the technical skills to draw or paint is more than fun. (And of course, it is lots of fun!) Learning a new skill is great for your brain. Experts have found evidence that this improves brain health and helps ward off age-related dementia. It also reminds you that you do have skills and abilities. As you see yourself master new skills, you are bound to feel more confident.
This has a knock-on effect. You’ll feel more confident about your ability to paint or draw. And you’ll also realize that you can indeed learn new things, which is an empowering feeling. Once you try and succeed at one new thing, you’ll start to wonder what else you can do, what other undeveloped talents you have. What else could you do that you’d really enjoy? How could this confidence help you at work? There’s one way to find out. The first step is taking an introductory class in art.