海角大神

I聽am not a handyman, or a particularly handy man. With alarming regularity, my wife comments on the softness of my hands (Um, it鈥檚 called 24-hour moisturizer.). They may not have gripped many power tools, but when you move in to a new house and your wife is pregnant with twins in her last trimester, well, it鈥檚 hammer time.

Previously, my limitations in that arena were shameful, and doubly so since I have a father-in-law who could rebuild Noah鈥檚 Ark. But I鈥檓 pleased to report that with some practice, trial and error, and YouTube, I鈥檝e acquitted myself entirely adequately in our new home. I won鈥檛 be fashioning canoes out of mahogany anytime soon, but I鈥檒l get those towel racks, hooks, picture frames, blinds, and toilet paper holders up and running in just slightly more time than it would take the average person.

I don鈥檛 want to undersell myself, though, because even seemingly simple installations can require real ingenuity. In one particularly cramped bathroom, I had to install the toilet paper holder inside the medicine cabinet door, so that it only becomes available when you swing the door open.聽

I鈥檝e come a long way from my days of getting flustered in Home Depot. When the Orange Apron approached and those warehouse lights shined bright, my practiced vocabulary 鈥� cylinder head bolts, socket head cap screws, expansion shields, flange nuts, and the dreaded knurled nut 鈥� would abandon me, like a new language learner thrust into an unexpected conversation.

I鈥檓 still vexed by the verbiage, but I鈥檝e found a distinct satisfaction in mastering the installation of household knicks and knacks, and through that effort, a new respect for the merits of mediocrity. After all, if you鈥檙e average at most things in life, on average you鈥檇 probably be above average.

This marks a departure from my previous approach. For much of my life, I shied away from new ventures. My thinking was that if I wasn鈥檛 ever going to be great at something, then what was the point? Not wanting to waste my time, I would never get started. And that鈥檚 why I still can鈥檛 ski down a bunny hill.

I don鈥檛 know if it鈥檚 early-middle-aged wisdom, or the surge of confidence I feel when I wield a power drill, but my thinking has flipped. These days I鈥檓 thoroughly enjoying my muddle to mediocrity in new fields, including birding, biking, swimming, piano, and now home improvement. I鈥檓 not particularly good at any of them, and yet all have enriched my life. I can hardly wait to get to golf and fishing.

What is it about mediocrity that鈥檚 so marvelous? When you know you won鈥檛 be great at something 鈥� now that I鈥檓 38, my concert pianist window has closed 鈥� the pressure recedes and you can just enjoy learning or doing for its own sake.

It鈥檚 a revelation to do something for pleasure, not for accolades, to realize that excellence is not a prerequisite for enjoyment.

In one of his principal pieces, 鈥淢etaphysics,鈥� Aristotle observes, 鈥淎ll men by nature desire to know.鈥� I鈥檓 pretty sure he wasn鈥檛 talking about drywall installation, but I鈥檒l run with it.聽

The quest for competence may not sound particularly inspiring, but through it I鈥檝e found a surprising source of continual challenge, growth, fulfillment, and perhaps, even a kind of excellence.

So here鈥檚 an invitation. Grab your aspirational instrument of choice 鈥� binoculars, goggles, skis, trumpet, paintbrush, fishing line, five iron, knurled nut 鈥� and join me on the ascent to average.