Story of My Life: Can't Draw

Hello everybody!

Today I would like you to think about what skill you have never been able to master. Think about what you are always going to suck at whatever you do and however hard you try.

For me it has always been drawing. Everyone knows that I draw like a five-year-old and I'm not going to use this post to prove them wrong. On the contrary, I'm going to admit it proudly, and you are going to learn why. Just give me a minute or so.

In the kindergarten, I was the kid who would always colour outside the lines. I don't mean that in a good way when smart and creative children are said to think outside the box because their drawings have unexpected colour patterns. Oh no! My drawings were messy and pitiful and they were definitely not cute. Trust me on that.

What happened in primary school times? Let's just say that my brother's friends would outsource drawing to their sisters. (Boys will be boys.) My brother, however, would never let me near his art assignments and you have already learnt why.

In secondary school, I had to attend the art class where we learnt the theory of art and on occasions we were required to produce a piece of art ourselves. I did struggle a lot and didn't enjoy this class one bit. Imagine worrying about history, biology, chemistry and on top of that – art.

Sad as this story sounds, there was an expected turn of events. It was during our abstract drawing assignment. The whole class got really engaged and were doing their best to submit something impressive. That got me stressed out even more. But then all of a sudden I was struck by the thought: ”Screw that. I'm just going to do my best and if my best sucks then so be it.”

And I got a 4 plus and I think that my teacher might have even called my work interesting!

But it's not the end of the story. There's a follow-up right in the middle of my studies. It was a writing class. Our teacher played us a conspiracy theory video and asked us to write an argumentative essay based on it. I knew it was important to pay attention and to write down as many details as possible so I focused hard and started doodling...

I don't know how it happened (I probably got bored) but at one point I drew a stick figure and added a speech bubble. The drawing looked similar to that:

I know it looks kinda lame to you but back then it seemed really funny. I showed the picture to my friends, Mick and Justyna and they loved it; especially Justyna, who later asked me if she could keep it. And she did and she even put it on her student apartment wall ;).

What I'm trying to say here is that no matter what you suck at and how badly you suck at it, you should still do it and have fun with it. Don't let other people judge how you draw, sing or play football and take away all the fun. As long as you enjoy doing something, you should carry on and if the results are appalling, there will always be loving people around who will tell you that your appalling picture is lovely.

GLOSSARY:

to master a skill – opanować umiejętność

to suck at something – być do bani

to prove somebody wrong – udowodnić, że ktoś się myli

on the contrary – wręcz przeciwnie

or so – tut. lub trochę więcej

to colour outside the lines – wychodzić poza line podczas kolorowania obrazka

to think outside the box – myśleć twórczo, kreatywnie

messy – niechlujny

pitiful – żałosny

Trust me on that. – Uwierzcie mi w tym przypadku.

to outsource – zlecać

to let somebody near something – pozwalać komuś zbliżyć się do czegoś

an assignment – tut. praca

be required to – mieć obowiązek coś zrobić

to struggle – tut. męczyć się

(not) one bit – ani trochę

on top of that – do tego

an unexpected turn of events – niespodziewana zmiana przebiegu zdarzeń

engaged – zaabsorbowany

to do one's best – dać z siebie wszystko

to submit – oddać

impressive – robiąca wrażenie

Screw that! – Olać to!

Then so be it. – Niech tak będzie.

a follow-up – kontynuacja

a conspiracy theory – teoria spisku

based on that video – w oparciu o ten film

to pay attention – skupić się, słuchać uważnie

to doodle – gryzmolić, rysować różne figury, kwiatki itp.

a stick figure – (kreskowy) ludzik ;)

a speech bubble – chmurka

kinda lame – raczej słabe

to carry on – kontynuować

appalling – okropne, fatalne

Oh, one more thing. I would like to give a shout-out to my friends, Justyna and Mick, both of whom are abroad, in Mexico and France respectively. Sending virtual hugs :)).