By Kathy Keats
I love playing the fiddle. I’m a relative beginner, largely self-taught, and don’t have a natural musical ear.
I practice and play almost daily, but have hit a plateau the last several months…because I was comfortable in my room. Where I was safe. Safe from not being good enough. Safe from exposing my perceived weaknesses.
Most people think just a little more practice will give them the confidence they need, a little more time and they will be “enough”. I’ve been there myself…many times.
The problem is that time rarely comes.
There is a world of decent, even potentially outstanding musicians playing behind closed doors, afraid they aren’t “enough”.
I recognized I was feeling it again, that uncomfortable sense of wanting something and being afraid to lean into it. It was time to jump.
So I threw myself into the deep end and signed up for fiddle camp. It was incredibly uncomfortable at times. But it was exhilarating too.
What does this have to do with sheepdogging?
To get better, you have to make yourself uncomfortable. And goodness knows sheepdogging excels at that (perhaps too much).
You see, analysis and practice at home without feedback is comfortable. You’ll drive the same distances, fetch from the same spots, follow the same patterns, make excuses for your dog or yourself in the same ways. In fact, comfortable practice is insidiously deceiving in that we trick ourselves into believing we are better than we are and yet we are subconsciously less confident at the same time.
Confidence grows when we are stretched. But we have to go through the initial discomfort…whether it’s our first trial, our first time at a big event, or we are bringing out a new dog after riding high with a multiple Open winner.
That never changes. That cycle is always there.
But putting ourselves “out there”, purposely making ourselves uncomfortable, is rarely easy, even when we know it’s the next step we need to improve. It might be going to a clinic, or a camp, or trial…or doing a job we haven’t done before, like set-out.
What if you crash and burn? Go home and train more uncomfortably and then try again.
Sometimes, especially as adult learners, we (over) think too much and do too little. Sometimes we just need to jump. And jump again. And again.
Set aside any “I’m not good enough” baggage. Get the ego out of the equation. Cultivate curiosity, the beginner’s mind. Load up on passion, eagerness to learn, and embrace those inevitable moments of discomfort that are part of the process. When we get in alignment with our journey, we stop blocking ourselves and improve so much faster.
So when you feel stuck, figure out what’s scaring you. That’s probably your next step.
