I started the year off with a post about choosing a New Year’s word instead of resolution. The word I chose was try. This three-letter word completely changed my life.

Things I have tried for the first time since January 2018 (it is now April)

• Skateboarding on a longboard.
• Inviting a guest writer to IYS.
• Painting with watercolors/pen & ink.
• Opening an online shop.
• Copyrighting my work.
• Writing a negative space story.
• Entering the PB Party competition on Twitter.
• Rollerblading backwards as fast as I can.

I’ve tried other things as well, but these are the stars of the day. As I’ve learned about my new word-friend try, I’ve discovered there are a lot of misconceptions about it. You’ve probably heard this one:

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Nope. Not always the case. There are some things you just don’t need to be that successful at. Like skateboarding. I tried it. I liked it. I fell and couldn’t move my arm for a few days without pain.  I’d change this friendly saying to: “If at first you don’t succeed, try and re-evaluate.” Don’t quit, but don’t be afraid to do things different next time.

You won’t know if you never try.

There are things you can know without trying them. Drugs are a good example. Don’t try drugs. They’re bad. You don’t need to try them to know. For most good things, this is a fair but incomplete saying. The most important thing you need to know about try is this:

Try is both a teacher and a trickster.

You learn a lot of things by trying. You learn about your strengths and weaknesses. You get firsthand experience, and what you learn will stick better. Yes, trying is a good teacher – except that you can “learn” things that can feel true but aren’t true.

If you try something new and it doesn’t go how you planned, you may be hasty to draw concrete solutions. Because hitting concrete hurts. Try can seem to trip you and then laugh at you when you’ve fallen on your face. This is the trickster side of try – and the point where some people don’t want to be friends anymore with this three-letter word.

When that happens:

Get up, and let yourself laugh for a minute with try. Don’t abandon try, but instead, lead this little word in your life. I will skateboard again – probably with elbow pads. But most of my time will be spent trying (and re-trying differently) things that I have a passion for and love.

Of all the new things I tried this year, rollerblading backwards came the most easily to me. It was fun! I was glad I tried it, but just because it came naturally to me doesn’t mean it was deeply fulfilling. I’ll do it again, but I’ll spend most of my time trying things that challenge me in other ways.

So, for my first-quarter evaluation of try, I would say we’re going to be life-long friends.

Did you pick a New Year’s word? How is it going so far? If you didn’t, there’s still a lot of time left. Leave your word in the comments, so we can journey together! Success is not guaranteed, but interesting is!

Until next time,

Invent your story.