Day 13 - The Art of Everything

I believe that everything has an art to it. Every task, every job, every profession...there's an art to it. It doesn't matter how menial it seems to the majority, there's still a rythym and cadence and steps to be taken to accomplish it successfully. I started thinking about this one day years ago when I was getting my nails done. I watched the nail technician do her job and she was good at it. She went through all of the necessary steps to complete the job just as she had been taught in nail technician school (what is the proper name of that?) I'm sure. But just because you follow the necessary steps, doesn't make you good at something. She knew just how much powder and liquid to put together to fill in my acrylic nails just right. She knew how to polish the nail so there wouldn't be ugly lines and bubbles. Not everyone can do that. I doubt I could. So, what seems a rather lowly profession actually has some real requirements of skill to it. Skill that not everyone can accomplish. This alone makes it worthy of notice and appreciation. And respect.

I was watching the garbage men the other day and noticed how the driver would stop at just the right spot and how the others would jump off at just the right time and pick up the garbage cans and swing them just so into the back of the garbage truck. Not a single piece of garbage landed on the street or remained in the garbage can (I checked later). Theres' skill to that. And art. It's something I couldn't do well.

I find myself watching people do their jobs. I am full of admiration as I watch the cashier at the grocery store or the teller at the bank or the clerk at the post office or the attorney in the courtroom or the accountant at her calculator. They all do something that I might be able to do after some training but...I might not be able to do after some training. Afterall, we're not all cut out for everything.

I'm 45 and find myself wondering what I am cut out for. That makes me feel a little (a lot) pathetic. I bake. I craft. I write. Am I really cut out for any of it though? The only thing I know to do is to keep...DOING. So here I am. Doing.

Is there an art to doing?