Magic
Think back to when you were a kid. Was there something that was amazing to you? Something that truly filled you with wonder? Hold on to that feeling; is there anything that still makes you feel that way? I think as adults we tend to lose that feeling and I really think that is a shame.
Magic was what filled me with the most wonder as a child. There is something about the possibility of something unexplainable that captures the imagination. I would see these feats being performed and my mind would be blown. Obviously as a very young kid you don’t understand that magic isn’t real. You take everything you see at face value and the things magicians were able to do were truly wondrous.
As I got older and began realizing that magic obviously wasn’t real, I felt myself drawn to it even more. Most people are able to suspend their disbelief and just appreciate the trick for what it is. However, they seem to lose their sense of wonder when they find out how the trick is done and that is the opposite for me.
Maybe it is my curiosity, maybe it is just the problem solver in me, but I love to see how magic tricks are done. It is even more satisfying when I am able to figure out how they are done myself. As a kid, one of the adults in my life was very into magic. He gave me a lot of little magic props and things and I wish I would have gotten into it more.
It is one of those things that you look back on and your past actions confuse even yourself. I had an interest in magic and I had someone who was able to teach me and show me how to do things but I just didn’t. I wouldn’t say I regret it, regret is something we will get to in another post, but it is something I would go back to past me and try to encourage him to practice more.
I don’t really think it would have changed anything in my life. I was never one to get super obsessed or commit heavily into things so I would never have been able to make anything of it but I could have learned a lot while I had the opportunity. But as the theme of this blog probably makes obvious, I am starting to get back into magic and trying to learn some tricks.
It all started with a single YouTube video recommendation. For some reason, I clicked on that video and it started a chain reaction. More and more, Penn and Teller videos were being recommended to me. I just felt myself pulled in and I couldn’t stop going down the rabbit hole. I ended up watching Wes Barker’s videos and Daniel Roy’s videos. It was one of Daniel’s videos that really started my interest in wanting to learn it myself.
The video was about a simple card trick. While I was watching it, I realized that I could totally do that. There was nothing stopping me skillswise from just picking up a deck of cards and trying this trick at home. So that is exactly what I did. I texted my wife to make sure we had a deck of cards and when we were both home I tried to do the trick for her. It didn’t go totally smoothly but I was able to pull it off and it was convincing. That was really a catalyst in pursuing more and trying to learn other tricks.
I think there is a lot from this experience I hope you can take away. First, it is never too late to pursue something you are interested in. I know it’s cliché but age is just a number. Never tell yourself that you can’t do something because you are too old. This ties back into the previous post so I won’t dwell on this part too long but people aren’t going to judge you nearly as harshly as you think they will. I thought for sure that my wife would think this whole thing with magic was just lame because magic was for kids. But of course because she is loving and supporting she was just happy to see me enjoying something. Just remember: it isn’t stupid if it is something you enjoy.
I think the second takeaway from this is don’t let the difficulty of something scare you away from doing it. This ties into the first because age can sometimes impose physical limitations that make things harder. This can also be said for other physical disabilities, these things make pursuing what you want much harder. As a person who is able bodied, I cannot speak for those with disabilities and I won’t attempt to. Mahdi Gilbert on Penn and Teller Fool Us is a great example of pursuing something despite seemingly overwhelming odds. I think this is something that can be applied to everyone. I know I often look at things I want to learn and think to myself, “That is just way too hard, I could never do that.”
That line of thinking is something I am really trying to change in myself. If there is something that I really want to try, I want to just push myself to try it no matter how hard it seems. The worst thing that can happen is that I fail and I learn that I really can’t do it. That isn’t the end of the world, I made an effort to engage with something I am interested in. If I choose to just give up before trying, then I will never know if I could do it or not.
