Sometimes I wonder about the things we do to entertain ourselves.

I know that I’m late on the train for this one, but I recently came across the cup song from that movie Pitch Perfect. Last weekend, after obsessively listening to the song several times, I learned the cup choreography. It was a lot of fun, but as I was doing it I was struck by how silly it was. What kind of skill is that to learn? When will this skill ever be beneficial in my life. It’s a neat party trick, but it doesn’t go much further than that.

This made me think about some of the insane ways we spend our time.

When I was younger I got really good at “guitar hero” but not guitar. I got really good at “Dance Dance Revolution” but not dance. I got really good at tennis on the Wii Fit, but not tennis the real life sport. I remember one of my first days in acting school: we were asked to talk about ourselves. I had a degree that said that I was really good at school, but beyond that I hadn’t really accomplished that much. I wasn’t skilled at anything — perhaps with the exception of writing — because I spent all my time getting good at the artificial version of skills.

There are so many options for time wasting activities, and while I can acknowledge the value of taking a break from your work, I still find this utilization of time slightly insane.  It sort of feels like we’re being encouraged to become skilled in artificial representations of skills, when the acquisition of the actual skill might have the added bonus of adding meaning to our lives.

The biggest difference between the artificial and the real, is that the real skill involves creativity. In her book “The Gifts of Imperfection,” Brené  Brown says that her research has taught her three things about creativity and its connection to wholehearted living and loving:

*The following is a direct quote

1. “I’m not creative” doesn’t work. There’s no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t. Unused creativity doesn’t just disappear. It lives within us until it’s expressed, neglected to death, or suffocated by resentment and fear.
2. The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.
3. If we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, scrapbook, take pictures, collage, knit, rebuild and engine, sculpt, dance, decorate, act, sing — it doesn’t matter. As long as we’re creating we’re cultivating meaning.

*end quote.

This passage definitely choked me up a little bit. But I began to wonder… maybe we use these games to (as Brené Brown would say) dull our desire to learn the actual skill. Actually learning how to dance involves a lot of risk (believe me, I just started going to dance class). It’s scary to be absolutely terrible at something, and looking at the amount of work it would actually take to gain proficiency can be intimidating. According to Malcom Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours! We live in a culture that is mainly focused on immediacy, so that sort of time commitment doesn’t always mesh with our already busy lives. It’s much safer to pop “Guitar Hero” (with its four buttons) into your play station (I know this example is dated), then it is to sit down with a real guitar and suffer through the learning curve.

The problem is, being excellent at guitar hero doesn’t mean anything. You may disagree, but I don’t think that these games add any meaning to our lives. What they do, is leave us with a false sense of accomplishment which placates us and encourages mediocrity.

But I don’t want to pretend to live, I want to live. So, I’m taking dance classes, I’m learning to sing, and I’m writing a play. I’ll be honest, doing all of these things make me feel incredibly insecure and afraid, and yet I fall asleep every night with a smile.

So, I challenge you to take up a skill that you’ve always wanted to learn. The “too old” excuse just doesn’t fly anymore.

And remember:

“The only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born of our creativity.”