christine

For example, when learning to draw with charcoal, you can try different ways of holding charcoal in your hand: using edges, using the tip, slanting at different angles, turning the stick on its side and drawing with wide marks, breaking off a clean edge vs a smooth end, etc

when setting boundaries, you can learn different nonverbal and verbal methods such as: not saying yes, repeating boundary like a broken record, asking for details, saying “I don’t” instead of “I can’t”, walking away, changing the topic

If you are starting to rock climb, you can learn different footwork techniques like heel hooking, toe hooking, back stepping, smearing, pogoing, flagging, edging, bicycling, etc

There’s something incredibly empowering about having an expanded vocabulary. You can just skim to get a sense of the breadth of available tools. The main point is to be aware and fill in those spaces where you didn’t know you didn‘t know these things existed.

Not only do you get a higher fidelity map, you feel more oriented, your perspective has more nuance, and if you encounter a challenge you have a lot of little mental anchors you can make use of (even if it’s just a vague recognition & involves googling)