Why letters the "a-g" ALMOST had me give up learning calligraphy
Why letters "a-g" ALMOST had me give up learning calligraphy I can now confidently write the letters "a-g." It was a journey to get to this point. I'm so proud of myself for not giving up because I almost did.
The letters suddenly expose the weakness in my foundational strokes. An oval that seemed “good enough” during "Show Me Your Drills" may make the letter "a" or "d" look completely wrong, especially with me and the letter "d"; I keep writing bobble heads.
Some letters are deceptively difficult. The letter "c" looked incredibly simple until I was trying to make 20 of them look remotely related. My letter "c's" looked like a row of ocean weaves. It wasn't pretty and very frustrating. Treat every letter with respect, even the ones you think are going to be easy.
I was expecting my letters to look like letters too quickly. Writing the letter "g" had me knee deep in frustration tears. I had fifteen bobble head "g's" in a row. I almost gave up and started thinking, "Maybe I'm just not good at this." I had to give myself grace and remember that this is my second month of learning calligraphy. This is my first time writing letters, of course they are going to look as good as my instructor.
Progress isn't equal across letters. In my case I struggled with every letter except "f". It made me feel that I was losing progress when I wasn't. This triggered my doubts and insecurities. I kept comparing myself to other students in the class whose practice sheets were flawless and perfect. Stop comparing because it will kill your enthusiasm and confidence to learn.
Repetition becomes mentally tiring. This happened with the letter "g." By my fifth worksheet, I started questioning myself with, "Why am I still struggling with this ONE letter?" What made it worse was, it was the last letter of the in the batch I was learning. I couldn't move on until I felt confident that I could write the letter "g."
Lastly, sometimes you need another week with the same seven letters. This is what happened to me. It doesn't mean I failed. It meant my eyes are learning what to look for. My brain is understanding the construction of the letter, and my hand is slowly developing muscle memory to reproduce it.