海角大神

In the new year, people resolve to improve themselves: Quit being so snarky, eat more kale, learn the trombone!

But travel writer Tom Vanderbilt didn鈥檛 wait for a new year to shake up his world. After watching his daughter learn to play chess, he decided to join her. Emboldened by the experience, Vanderbilt started on his own adult-ed study, learning to sing, surf, swim, juggle, draw, and create jewelry.

In 鈥淏eginners: The Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning,鈥� he describes frankly (and humorously) the embarrassment that comes with repeated failures as well as quiet triumphs. His aim is to understand what it means for a middle-aged man to learn new skills, and, deeper still, how learning happens. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about small acts of reinvention, at any age, that can make life seem magical,鈥� he writes.

Vanderbilt isn鈥檛 looking for a bucket list or something to crow about on social media; he wants skills he can relax into and slowly develop over a lifetime. He hires teachers, joins groups, and interviews experts.聽

To learn how to sing, he engages a voice teacher, who assuages his fears about his ability: Yes, she says, your voice may have certain parameters, but it鈥檚 still trainable. 鈥淵ou should walk into this completely open and think of it as a joyful experience,鈥� she tells him. Good advice for learning anything new.

He next joins a local group, the Britpop Choir. The joy is transcendent. The ensemble turns from a mismatched collection of singers to one unified voice. And he finds more than just a good vocal workout. 鈥淏efore I knew it, the Britpop Choir was fulfilling any number of needs in my life. There was the simple getting out of the house, being among people, working on something that wasn鈥檛 work.鈥�

Then Vanderbilt takes up surfing in the cold waters of the Rockaways in New York. From the 鈥減op up鈥� from prone position to upright on the board, he learns how to read the signs of the ocean and catch waves. He takes his family to Costa Rica, where he attends a surfing camp and discovers that it鈥檚 a serious pursuit. To get better quicker, he is told he needs to 鈥渢reat surfing as a sport, with all the tools that entails: a rigorous, thoughtful skills development plan; video feedback and analysis; and drills.鈥�

After many missed waves and wipeouts, his first big Costa Rican wave, 鈥渨as just sheer, stupid bliss,鈥� he recalls.聽

He notices that the 40-somethings in the camp are learning more than surfing. 鈥淭hese were people who鈥檇 temporarily abandoned the safe harbors of adulthood 鈥� their bankable competency at work, the familiar rationalizations of what was age appropriate, that fallback move of relinquishing the idea of growth to their children 鈥� to take part in a challenging, risky, and maybe even futile endeavor.鈥澛�

He finds out the key to learning new things is shifting the focus off yourself. With surfing, he learns to look at the shore, not his feet or board. When he takes up juggling, he learns that jugglers don鈥檛 look at the balls, they watch the apex of where things are thrown. As he adds balls, he learns that time slows down, especially if you stop thinking.

When he starts taking drawing classes, that state of 鈥渘ot thinking鈥� comes into play as well. Claude Monet counseled, 鈥渢ry to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field, or whatever. Merely think, here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you.鈥�

Over the course of his learning crusade, Vanderbilt works through his own perfectionism and judgment, acknowledges mistakes and keeps trying.聽

He didn鈥檛 win any prizes or break new ground 鈥� nor was that the intention. He gained 鈥渕odest competency.鈥� 鈥淏ut doing these things,鈥� he writes, 鈥渂rought me an immense and almost forgotten kind of pleasure.鈥�

Perhaps he will encourage you to spend 2021 finding delight in honing new or forgotten skills. 鈥淚t takes the whole of life,鈥� he quotes Seneca, 鈥渢o learn how to live.鈥�