The idea for this week’s post began when I was talking to some friends, who are also well past twenty about my desire to strengthen my swimming skills. I was a reasonably decent swimmer as a teen, but I do not love water and I have lived in cold places for the majority of my adult life, so I just haven’t kept up with swimming. My husband and I recently vacationed in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. One of the leading attractions in that area is the cenotes. A cenote is an underground cavern with a river flowing through it. Technically, I swam in the cenote, but I did not go with my husband to explore deeper into the cave, remaining instead in the more open main room of the cavern where the platform to get in and out was located. My husband was very disappointed that I did not join him. I am not unhappy with my decision, but I could definitely develop some skills in this area.
This brings me to my book of the week The Magical Yet by Angelia Diterlizzi. My new motto is, ” Anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” By doing things badly, I don’t mean being lazy or careless about things you can already do well. I mean trying things that you don’t really know how to do, or in my case with swimming, things that you haven’t done in so long that you no longer remember how to do them well. The point of this book is that just because you don’t do something well now, it doesn’t mean that you can’t become better through practice and effort. Most of us start things without much skill and need to work looking toward a future when we can master the task.
The possibilities are endless for this title in the STEAM classroom or any classroom. It is a wonderful title to read before introducing any new material or procedure. Building or coding projects, particularly those that are likely to be challenging are a very good fit for this book.
I believe in the Magical Yet, so I have signed up to swim once per week. I am not a good swimmer now, but the Magical Yet gives me hope that one day I will confidently swim in the cenotes and the ocean and anywhere else I like.
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