Anything new and unfamiliar scares the pants off of me.
I always go through the same basic steps:
1. Panic - I'm going to fail, I don't want to do this, I want to quit.
2. Research - I must read, talk to people, google and/or watch as many youtube videos as possible about this task. (It depends on the thing as to which I lean on first)
3. Do - I have to just do the thing. (this is the scariest part for me but it's the only way I'll learn) For me doing the thing has gotten me laughed at, dirty looks and a lot of questions which inevitably leads to the next step.
4. Fail - This is my strongest skill. I am quit possibly the best failure that's ever lived. I've never been naturally good at anything, step 4 is something I get to quickly.
5. Learn - Doing and failing get me to the learning stage. I figure things out and start to see the patterns, the rules, the flow.
6. Streamlining - I take what I've learned and make it better in some way. This is my favorite part. I get consumed with this "project" of making the thing better.
My latest project? Kindergarten. (I hear you laughing) It's different, it's new and it's completely out of my comfort zone. But as of this morning I'm on step 5 and 6.
1. The teachers will think I'm an unfit mother and I will forget to give stella something that every other kid has at which time she will be laughed at and ridiculed. (my panic gets creative)
2. I talked to the seasoned mothers in my neighborhood who are AMAZING and felt much more prepared.
3. Stella went to school yesterday for the first time and she rocked it!
4. I forgot to read the folder of things for the first day of school and forgot to put stella's name tag on so that she could easily be guided to classrooms. (Stella didn't even care, she was fine, I was not)
5. I read the folder cover to cover like it was the New York times I then gave a presentation of the material to my husband (no powerpoint just yelling it while bathing the kids)
6. While working out this morning my brain started chewing on our schedule, lunch packing, homework doing, activity sign ups.
Kindergarten, you've been warned. There's a new mother in town and she's not messing around.