Practice makes us better

There are some things that we learn easily, not because they're easy to learn but because they come to us naturally and these things can be different things for different people. I remember back in the day when I used to mess around with some spoilt appliances that I would find around the house or on the floor.

I would unscrew all of them and try to figure out what the problem was even though I had no idea prior on how to fix any of those things. Most times I would change some components from the other appliances to see if it would work. My brother had a soldering iron and some lead at the time so it was pretty easy for me to change some of the components and some times it worked, but most times it didn't. But despite my failure, I soon found myself gaining knowledge on certain gadgets on how to fix it especially when they had similar faults from the previous ones I had worked on.

Unfortunately, I stopped messing with gadgets because at the time, I was doing it all for fun and it was no longer looking like fun anymore, it was starting to feel like work. But there was something else that I feel I also picked up easily too, and that thing was writing. Although I may not be a professional writer yet, I started writing due to this writers group that I joined on WhatsApp about seven years ago and we all were occasionally challenged to write short stories to win some prizes, then I got introduced to Hive (then steemit) on that same platform and I've been writing ever since.

But like I said, there are certain things that we learn easily and then there are some things that takes time and one of those things for me was barbing. After high-school, my dad decided it was a good idea for me to go learn how to cut hair rather than just sit at home doing nothing while waiting for my admission into the university. So my dad had taken me to his favorite barber, paid some cash and I found myself going there every day, standing right next to my boss while watching him cut hair.

_{Photo by Andres Siimon}

There were days where I would stand for four or more hours straight watching him cut hair, depending on how busy our day was. And I remember after about a week of me being there, I was confident that I would be able to cut hair because it looked pretty simple to me but my boss had thought otherwise. I remember he had told me that I could stand right next to him for a year, watching him cut hair but as long as I don't handle the clipper myself occasionally, I would never know how to cut hair.

Basically what he was trying to say was that watching him wasn't enough, I had to practice by actually cutting hair. And I remember after a month of watching this man cut hair, he finally gave me the chance to prove myself. I would never forget that day because what happened next felt like something out of a movie. My little brother was the one in the chair that day, he had come to cut his hair and my boss had decided that he would be my perfect first victim, yes, victim.

I was excited when he handed me the clipper, but the moment I turned it on, I lost control of my right hand and it started shaking profusely, like someone having a convulsion but only on my right hand. My boss had looked at me, laughed and took the clipper from me, while my little bro had let out a sigh of relief because he knew that if those shaky hands had gotten close to his head, I would have taken a bit of it off.

After that experience, I decided I needed a bit more time to really master this craft and whenever my boss wasn't around, I would pick up the clipper, turn it on and hold it firmly, trying to get over whatever fear or attack I got the first time. Six months in and I finally got better at it, cutting people's hair like it was nothing. And although it took me six whole months to learn and I still don't feel perfect at it even till this day (because I went to school and haven't cut hair for years now), I'm happy I got to have that experience.