I used to think whistling was something everyone learns to do eventually. Like walking, talking, and reading. Then, I met my husband. He can’t whistle a single note. I’m not talking about whistling through your fingers, the way people do when trying to call a cab, because I can’t do that, either. I mean the sort of tuneful lip piping that Snow White sang about while frolicking with the forest animals. No matter how much he purses his lips and puffs out air, my husband can’t sound a single note.
It’s fascinating to me that, even when there are no disabilities involved, some things come completely naturally to some people while others, try as they might, can’t do them.
My lovely mother-in-law insists knitting is easy, but I beg to differ. She tried to teach me and I was eager to learn, picturing all the cute sweaters, mittens, and hats I’d be able to make. My lessons started with great enthusiasm on my part. I gave it a good go, but never managed to knit anything other than long strips littered with dropped stitches interspersed with threads of yarn pulled too tight.
Knitting is not the only thing I stink at.
Like I said, although I can whistle tunefully, I’ve tried and failed to learn how to whistle using my fingers. I couldn’t do a cartwheel if my life depended on it. My son could hula hoop like a master by the time he was eight. I, on the other hand, cannot get the hoop to swing around even once before it clatters around my feet.
And in gym class at school, my heart would sink whenever we were told to climb up a rope. While it seemed all my classmates shimmied up with no effort, I never managed to pull myself up even a couple of inches.
These days, if I try something new and am utterly rubbish at it, I’ll do one of two things. If it’s something I really, really want to do, I’ll persevere and stick to it. Or, I’ll chalk it up as one of those many things I’ll probably never be able to do. Like the splits. I’ll decide life’s too short and time too limited to waste any more effort.
One thing I no longer do is let myself feel like a loser just because everyone can do something I can’t.
In one of my books, my heroine struggles with inferiority.
Vanya, in Lessons Learned in Love, comes from serious money. Although she works hard at her job, she feels as though she’s never proven herself or earned anything by merit. She can’t cook. She can barely boil water. And she’s tone deaf. She’s got a special place in my heart among my characters, because she’s trying to find her place in the world, a little corner in which she can shine. I really enjoyed writing about how she grew out of her impostor syndrome, discovered she had gifts she never gave herself credit for, and learned that her true value comes from her identity in Christ. And as a lovely bonus, she found love along the way, too. :-)
Is there anything you can do that the people around you can’t? Or something all your friends and family find easy, but you can’t seem to get the hang of? Let me know in the comments.
I write fiction that reflects my Christian faith. I love happy endings, heroes and heroines who discover sometimes hard but always vital truths, and stories that uplift and encourage. My family and I live in the east of England where we enjoy rambling in the countryside, reading good books and making up silly lyrics to our favorite songs.
My father used to whistle tunes all the time when I was a child.
I love to knit. I find it relaxing.
I can sign. Very useful in a noisy room or across a room. (If the other person can sign of course.)
I am with your husband I can’t whistle no matter how hard I try. I also have never mastered cartwheels but I could stand on my head and do handstands.
Mum use to knit and was really good at it. She use do do fair isle which was using several colours and patterns. She use to make knee and children’s rugs with animals or flowers etc in different squares. I learnt to crochet when I was younger but haven’t done much lately. I do like cross stitch and have won prizes at the show with them.
Everyone around can drive and I can’t never have and haven’t a clue how to drive a car. I also can’t journal to save myself. I can travel on my own, I can read a map and navigate,
I can knit but it’s stressful. I finally admitted that this last year. I adore crochet and find it relaxing but knitting is just…not.
Wow, that’s awesome! I learned the signing alphabet, but that’s it. I wish I knew more.
Knitting and crocheting are such amazing skills to have! And you can do handstands? That puts you firmly in the “people who can do awesome things” camp.
I found knitting stressful as well, but assumed it was because I had to concentrate so hard. It’s incredible how people are able to do it without even thinking.
I used to crochet, and enjoyed doing it while watching tv. However, since my wrist was fused back in 2012, I don’t have wrist movement to be able to crochet anymore. Probably a good thing, since most yarn now is acrylic and it makes me itch. I make my own cards, and only a few friends do it, so I guess it’s unique. I used to help Mom with hers, and started doing my own.
I can’t do a hoola hoop very well either. I also haven’t been able to ever blow a bubble with bubblegum.
I cannot hula-hoop, either. I can’t open a pickle jar to save my life. :D
Milla, I love your writing no matter where you put it. You weave magic with words.
I’m mediocre at a lot. Terrible at math, but grow houseplants like a champ. Completely on accident. I think it’s my house- windows everywhere. It looks like a greenhouse in here. Outside is a wasteland 😂
That’s too bad about your wrist and your allergy. Really cool that you make cards! Sounds like a fun hobby.
I can blow a bubble with gum, but it definitely took a lot of practise before I mastered that particular life skill. :-D
Ha ha! Have you tried the rubber band hack to open jars?
You’re so sweet, Dalyn. I’ve killed every plant that’s crossed my threshold.
I can’t whistle either. I’ve tried and tried.
I can’t whistle and I don’t like when my son does it (maybe because I can’t) lol
I’m good with numbers though ;) so, when I come home from my accounting job I help with 9th, 7th, and 4th grades math.
You’re not alone. I saw a poll where 67% of the respondents either couldn’t whistle at all or could barely do it.
Ha ha, my aunties hated it when I whistled because they said it was unladylike. :-D I think it’s super cool to be good with numbers. My husband excels in math, too.
I so get it about the knitting. That mental pattern of loop, push, pull, clack just never clicked for me. I can crochet but only at the journeyman level. Apparently I hold the yarn too tightly. My wife is a master, though.
I’m pretty good at music which is good because my dad was a music teacher. However, after many years of thinking I was good, I had to admit that my rhythm was never going to be top rate. Something in the neurons, I think. Can’t play piano very well as a result. Can’t get the left hand to do without the right hand’s approval. LOL.
But I have found many things that I can do reasonably well and enjoy, some of them quite well. Photography, math, computer programming, even writing. It leads me to think that it is a good thing to play to your strengths once you have found them. They might not make you a living but they may certainly make the living enjoyable.
Where life with God is concerned, I have a knack for teaching and praying with others. I can keep track of the main ideas and general locations of scripture but it is quite an extra effort for me to memorize verses verbatim, especially getting the chapter and verse right. The upshot is that I have a searchable bible on-line and stacks and stacks of those little flash cards covered in verses which were never quite helpful enough to get the verses into my apparently thick skull. :-)
My dad used to say to me, “Mileage, mileage, mileage,” by which he meant that consistent practice would go a long way toward success. Yet he, himself, had things that escaped him no matter how he tried. I don’t always give these ideas the attention that they are due, but I think God has given us the joyful privilege of exploring His world and of discovering the gifts He has placed within us. Sometimes it can be a matter of overcoming the adversary’s critical voices in our lives in order to venture out into “the glorious unknown.” Sometimes it is just the choice to get on the road for some mileage, mileage, mileage.
A year from now, we will be somewhere. Why not be somewhere richer in enjoyment and ability? It seems that that may be what Jesus meant by the parable of the talents. Don’t bury your gifts. Use them and see what God has for you to discover and offer joyfully back to Him.
Now, time for me to listen to my own words. :) :) :) :) :)
Thanks for your thoughtful comment! “Mileage, mileage, mileage.” I like that thought. And, yes, very few skills are mastered without consistent practice, even when we might have a natural aptitude.
I am told that I have a very soothing voice when I read out loud to my Mom and husband. I can also cross stitch and quilt. I taught myself how to do so. I am told the underside of my cross stitch is so close to the top. Thank you for the opportunity. God bless you.
Cross stitch and quilting make such beautiful, cozy handicrafts! You are truly blessed to have those skills.
Well I could when younger. We had a teacher who taught us to do the forward and backwards somersaults and hand stands etc but I couldn’t workout cartwheels. I learnt to do the somersault on the trampoline. First time was really scary
another hack is hit the bottom of the jar 3 times then try to open. At Church Sunday they were trying to open a bottle of something gave it to a guy who still couldn’t I said tap it on the bottom 3 times. They all looked at me like I was mad but he did it to humour me and it opened. Doesn’t work for everything but it does seem to work with things with liquid in them.
I can whistle but not through my fingers, and I’ve tried a thousand times. Hula hoop sure brings back memories! I loved to do that as a kid and got quite good at it. Also jump rope, I especially enjoyed double dutch jump rope.
My dad was a green thumb and had many beautiful plants around the house. Me? I kill them faster than anything, lol! My husband is a natural at directions when driving, and I can’t tell you East from West. Thank goodness for GPS!! Because when I go to visit my sister-in-law if she isn’t with me when I go somewhere, I plug in my trusty GPS and it gets me to my destination.
I’m sure I can think of other things to come up with. Like you, I’ve stopped feeling like a failure or comparing myself with others and coming up short. God made me who I am with the talents He’s given me and I’m satisfied with that! :-)
I can’t whistle.
Amen, Trixi. I’m with you on everything you said, including heavenward thanks for the GPS! You could skip double dutch? That is beyond awesome! What a sense of rhythm and coordination you must have.
Apparently the majority of people can’t whistle, Denise, so you’re in good company!
I used to be able to whistle, lately just air comes out, lol! Not sure what changed there. I have a knack for spotting errors in text, people love it or hate it. My grandmother never quite recovered from the fact that a granddaughter (me) of hers simply could not master knitting, but I was great with a football. Now I’m old enough to have t h e wisdom and experience to have fun with anything new regardless of my level of proficiency, which varies enormously :)
I love what you said about just enjoying a new hobby or activity and not worrying about being good at it. That’s a great attitude. :-D
Great post!! I’ve been a good whistler my whole life, but like any other talent, if you don’t do it, you lose it. I must’ve tried to whistle once a couple months ago and I couldn’t do it. Nothing came out but air! Then I tried to stop and remember when I had last whistled. It must’ve been before the COVID pandemic because usually when I’m whistling it’s when I listen to music. Which is usually when I’m in the car for long periods. Which was completely eliminated with the pandemic shutdown. So … I practiced and practiced and now I’m happy to say I’m back to whistling at about 80% quality of my previous whistling.
Thanks, Laurie! It never occurred to me that whistling skill could fade with disuse. One thing I did notice, though, is when I was younger my whistling range was roughly the same as my vocal range. Now, though, I can’t sing the same high notes as I can whistle. I definitely don’t sing as much as I used to, so that ability has diminished.