Texture of Tenacious

We each come into this world with a natural tenacity. As babies and children, we voraciously consume the world and our experience of it shapes who we become. We quickly learn to delight in the unknown and intuitively seek out novelty as a means for expansion. Persistence becomes the language of our development as we learn to walk, talk and tolerate inevitable failures on the way to mastering necessary life skills.

Somewhere along the way to adulthood— at least for many of us— the desire for ease and instant gratification gets conditioned into us and we start to buy into the myth of natural talent and instant gratification. For many, the hard work of trial and error becomes aversive.

The law of the harvest that our ancestors lived by has been largely reprogrammed by a culture inundated with automation and massive amounts of information. Children have lost their tolerance for boredom and we adults are often plagued by a low grade sense of burnout and disconnection. Simplicity, creativity, and connection to nature can be a salve for the soul that reinvigorate us. In this learning adventure, these principles are leveraged to give learners the opportunity to experiment with creating various textures.

Spelling out the simple truth for children: that oftentimes success or mastery won’t feel easy is an important message. Failure is the path toward mastery and joy can coincide with setbacks if we are primed for this truth. Being challenged is a great thing because it grows our capacities. Knowing when to ask for help, when to redirect our efforts and when to press onward is a skillset that we humans must earn through the challenges life throws at us as we develop self-awareness.

Here, students get opportunities to deepen their growth mindset while exploring texture. Many begin to learn that the texture of success is both gritty and smooth, but ultimately shaped by our mentality and by aligning with our heART space.

Fail and learn enough times and we fail forward toward an evolution of self that is far greater than if we never dared to fail in the first place.