My chair and desk wait for me twice a week. After many struggles, I can now fearlessly open my HTML program and start editing code. My HTML and CSS coursework at Careerfoundry is finally complete. When I initially began the course, I was tremendously nervous and fearful upon first trying to open an HTML editor. That fear is now a thing of the past. As funny and as simplistic as opening an editor may seem, it was the one enormous hurdle that had to be conquered and fast! If you fear opening an editor, you will dread to try to tackle writing code.
I put aside thirty minutes, twice a week, to the task of learning HTML and CSS. I was learning about “The Grid.” The Grid is a method for arranging webpage elements and where I want to place them, according to a grid layout. Learning to design and develop to the grid is an entirely different story than the one I had experienced before. With this seemingly complex and restrained new concept, I was still unsure if I could ever learn this as a new craft.
What leads to the idea for me to learn to code was the influence of my previous efforts to master Southpaw in Muay Thai Boxing.
Definition: In boxing, a southpaw stance is where the boxer has his right hand and right foot forward, leading with right jabs, and following with a left cross right hook. It is the typical stance for a left-handed boxer.
(Thanks Google)
So last year, in September 2017, I wanted to learn how to be southpaw when I did my Muay Thai Boxing. It took a year with my trainer merely teaching and focusing only on southpaw footwork. Yes. Fundamentals. His teaching included ONLY footwork and no pad work. I made so many mistakes, and I felt silly trying to learn to control my left side instead of my favored right. Many times I fell and stepped on my own feet. In my mind, I looked like an idiot and felt like one as well. The more I moved my feet and the more I practiced, slowly the movements began to become second nature as if they were being programmed into my brain.
This year September 2018, I had completed my southpaw goal, and I felt comfortable boxing either left or right facing. Once I realized this and experienced the same mental roadblocks when fighting with my HTML/CSS code, I thought that the wise approach would be to tackle the coding issue with the same successful methodology I used when learning southpaw.
So I am giving myself a year to learn HTML/CSS. I will continue to learn a new craft, and with tremendous practice and a whole lot of mistakes, I will learn to be comfortable with HTML/CSS just as I did when I conquered learning southpaw. Hopefully, this time I won’t trip over my own feet. For now, I will sit in my chair and code away.
