I’ve tried to write this before and after the third draft, I realised I was coming at it from the wrong angle. It’s not about me spending the summer paddling, it’s about personal development and learning new skills, and in particular for people in and around travel and adventure!
I’ve upped my paddle skills this summer. I did my Discover and Explore qualifications in July, I did a half-day introduction to sea kayaking and I’ve had a canoeing lesson, to say nothing of a couple of canoeing trips on the river, some kayak practice on the sea, my own mini-expedition to Old Harry and the night nav from the other week. I’ve done a little paddling before but I didn’t mean for the whole skill development thing to happen. It just sort of did. And I’m delighted, partly because it’s something I can do safely outside (meaning Covid, rather than suggesting there’s no risk whatsoever in taking a kayak out on the sea on your own…) and partly because there’s someone I want to wave those skills at and partly because I do like learning new stuff.
My view on it is a bit skewed in that I’m a lifelong Guide. Challenges and personal development and new skills are part of the backbone of the movement, whether that’s something like staving off boredom during a plague with the county’s lockdown challenge cloth badge or whether it’s doing a weekend at the training and activity centre to become an archery instructor. I’m accustomed to looking at things that I do or want to do and wanting to push myself a bit. My Rangers used to have a programme called Look Wider where you had eight programme areas, and in each you had to try three new things, take one thing further and take one thing further still as a long-term challenge. Those could be five completely different things or you could pick one of your Phase 1 three new activities and take it as far as you can. Hence the paddling. I wasn’t following Look Wider but it does fit. I tried paddling. I like it. I tried to do my One Star award back in 2017 and it’s taken this long to get any real instructing because life but now I’ve taken it further with the Discover and Explore. Now every Guiding instinct in me is ordering me to start working towards my Paddlesport Instructor and I’m telling them to shut up – it’s out of the question while I’m still refusing point-blank to go under the water. You have to be able to self-rescue before you can consider taking anyone else out on the water.
But in my experience, the majority of adults don’t learn new skills unless it’s for work, and most likely through work. Things that are financially advantageous. My sister is doing some kind of qualification in… well, I have no idea, but she’s in financial services so it’s something related. My boss put me on a Python course. Pixie, my other Guide leader, got sent off by her job to do a degree in… well, yet again I have no idea. She’s in IT support so something relating to computers? But most people don’t do anything in the way of personal development. It’s fair enough. We’re all busy people and that sort of thing usually costs money and it’s relatively rare that someone’s going to throw money at something that isn’t going to bring money back.
I’d love to have a career in which my new paddle skills mean something. But I work in an office. Well, can I say that these days? I don’t work in an office. My company rents a coworking space for a day every now and then and I don’t go to it. Ok, I work at a desk on a computer. Paddling, spoon-carving, fencing, they’re not things I use at work. Useless from a career point of view, probably a waste of time and money. But new skills, no matter how much they look like they’re irrelevant to work, still have a certain value. Soft skills, don’t they call them? Maybe I’m learning leadership skills by doing my archery instructor qualification. Maybe I’m learning communication skills when I’m paddling a rickety boat across dancing waves while my guide yells across the group about whether or not to go beyond the shelter of the bay. Maybe I’m learning attention to detail when I’m trying to turn my log from a Minecraft-style spoon into a real life-style spoon. Writing risk assessments is something I’ve had to learn to do through Guiding and that’s definitely something that could come up at work. Problem-solving, people skills, time management, I’m doing all of this and I’m demonstrating that I like keeping my mind busy. I mean, if you were interviewing for a new employee, “here are five new skills I’ve developed in the last year” isn’t going to be an automatic no, is it?
For travellers and adventurers, or for people who document their travels and adventures in one form or another, surely this sort of thing is invaluable? I’ve talked about “work” as if it’s all sitting in an office wearing a grey suit. But work doesn’t always look like that these days. If you’re a travel and adventure blogger, surely a kayaking qualification or spoon-carving course is directly applicable to your work. It’s part of your adventure CV. It’s part of what makes your readers, viewers and/or followers say “yes, this person actually knows what they’re talking about”. Of course, it makes content – here I am doing something fun and exciting that I want you to watch/read! – but it’s also literally part of what qualifies you to do what you do.
See, I watch a bit of YouTube. I watch a bit of Instagram Stories. I like seeing people going to interesting and pretty places. But then sometimes I’ll think “wouldn’t this be more satisfying if this person displayed some personal development? This is nice but it’s basically exactly what they were doing five years ago, except the signs in the background are in a different language”. That feels like petty criticism and it is but particularly with travel content, I do enjoy seeing pretty places and exciting activities and wonderful extended holidays. But endless pretty landscapes and beautiful girls in bikinis gets tedious. I mean, I’m fine with them but I do enjoy them more if they’re broken up occasionally with someone learning something.
I sometimes wonder if I’m a reckless Gryffindor but occasionally I realise that I like learning and I value learning and although I’d never figure out the riddles to get into the common room, I’m probably actually a studious Ravenclaw. Well, eleven-year-old me with a wonky fringe and a permanently-closed mouth would never have been placed in Gryffindor. Eleven-year-old me would absolutely be Ravenclaw. I like learning and I like seeing other people learning. For example, and this is an excuse to link to a few of my favourite people:
- I really enjoyed it a couple of years ago when Backpacking Bananas was working towards her Divemaster qualification. Beaches, seas, nights out, sightseeing, waterfalls – and a bit of hard work and determination as she worked through her first aid and her Rescue Diver, getting it wrong, getting it right, learning, improving. That’s the sort of thing I’m talking about! When I see her diving, I know there’s more behind it than just “look at the pretty fish and the warm blue sea!”.
- Athena Mellor was training to be a Mountain Leader, although plagues and pregnancy have got in the way of that recently. I like seeing people out walking and camping but it’s also satisfying to know that if the clouds suddenly fell, that this person could probably competently navigate their way out because they are trained and qualified in walking in the mountains. I’ve not found many people who combine genuine knowledge of mountain walking with content creation.
- Navigation with Harriet does a similar thing, only she runs courses introducing people to camping and walking and navigation. She’s already a Mountain Leader and is working towards her Winter Mountain Leader.
- Seanna Fallon and her breathwork qualification, her bushcraft course and her bodybuilding. Actually, Seanna’s kind of the queen of personal development and skill-building. If I see Seanna wild camping in the woods, she’s on a two-year course to develop her bushcraft skills in every area they could possibly be developed and that’s far more interesting than just wild camping for the fun of it.
- Ellie Quinn and her journey to Islam, and by extension, to the Arabic language. I’m not, and never will be, a religious person but I enjoy seeing her updates as she learns more about her religion and her new culture and I always like seeing someone learn a language. I had a short go at Arabic and fell down very quickly over the alphabet.
- On a less travel more-lifestyle note, Hannah Witton and her ISEE course. She’s not just talking about sex and sexuality, she’s training to properly and therefore safely teach and educate on the subject.
I guess my point is that more people should do more personal development and learning new skills. They don’t have to be expensive or take forever. The majority of mine are either a day or two days. There are so many online courses now – I’ve been using Futurelearn for their free University of Oslo introduction to Norwegian course and I know you’ve watched a YouTube video recently that’s sponsored by Skillshare. My Python courses are on Udemy, to name but three online learning platforms. Your local area will have adult education courses, many of which are subsidised. There are plenty of things you can learn just from watching videos. Learn to bake from a cookbook. Tell your boss there’s something you think will be beneficial for you to learn for work purposes.
But if you get a chance, do learn something new. (Especially First Aid. I really think more people should know some First Aid)