Building Mastery

With our Emotion Regulation skills class starting this month, I am reflecting on the ways in which I use my skills of accumulating positives and building mastery both presently and in the past. A memory came to mind from a few years ago when I went ice skating with my partner which I haven’t done in 15+ years. I took ice skating lessons for a few months when I was a child, and have been ice skating on and off a handful of times throughout my life, so I had the brilliant idea that I wanted to build mastery and get back on the ice rink and learn how to spin. There was a group of girls who were so sweet and offered to teach me how to spin on the rink. It was quite the sight watching me try this sophisticated move. I got so close so many times and felt SO proud and accomplished, and incredibly silly that I was laughing at myself the whole time. My partner took a few videos of me so I could see that I wasn’t actually twirling even though I was convinced I was doing it! I was hysterically laughing throughout my impromptu ice skating lesson, and while watching back the videos. Even to this day thinking of that experience and rewatching the videos I get a big laugh at myself. I might not be the next Tara Lipinski AND I sure felt proud of myself! ;)

No matter what task we’re choosing to do to build mastery, the most important part is to be mindful of feeling proud and accomplished afterwards. It’s the little moments in a day for me when I build mastery, such as figuring out how to use my instant pot after it sat in a box for 6 months, or learning how to change the toner in the printer at work which I’d never done before. Building mastery helps me feel proud and accomplished, and allows me to feel competent and capable that I carry with me throughout my day and week.