The Joy of Being A Novice

Having a keen interest can often come with an ambition to turn it to a livelihood and take it professional. After all what better way to spend your days than doing what you love and being paid for it. I’m not just talking about woodwork here, it could be cooking, painting or maybe a sport. And I’m not going to knock taking that approach, it can be very rewarding but I’ve no doubt that the most fun can be had when it’s all done for yourself, with no one to answer to.

Gardening and cooking  are my things  and when I use the term novice I really do mean it. But the joy of being a novice is that it’s not the results that count but the process of getting there. The rewards of that process can vary; perhaps it’s the relaxation of taking time out or the accomplishment of learning something new. I’m probably rather odd but I love knowing that the challenge of making our garden beautiful is enormous. Given my lack of time and the fact that it’s been an un kept wildness  for many years, I can’t see how I’ll ever transform it in to the magnificent spectacle of colour I’ve imagined. But I can picture exactly how it could be and that encourages me to keep learning and pottering and enjoying it.

We’re pretty odd in the way that we desire things. The more we can’t have something the more we want it. And this goes hand in hand with our lack of time to indulge in our hobbies, it means we’re always eager and excited for it. No matter how fun something is, if we know we’ve got to do it then somehow it’s not quite as desirable as it could be.

I’d sum up the difference of being professional to being to being a novice as follows:

A professional tends only to remembers the mistakes, because they’re the cause of their sleepless nights. A novice on the other hand expects the mistakes, but can celebrate every achievement and result.

I’ve already gotten over loosing many seedlings to frost and all of my strawberries to the birds (and the dog!) but I’m delighted on an evening when I can go out and dig up some fresh spuds to get straight in to the pot.