As I said in the introduction to my blog page, the idea of writing one blog, let alone managing an entire blog section on my own website fills me with fear. I am always full of admiration for people that can rustle up interesting things to talk about on a regular basis, things that they are sure friends and complete strangers will take the time to read and give feedback on.
My admiration has only increased since my training and qualifications and becoming a horse owner, have seen me entering the worlds of equestrianism in its entirety, Bowen Therapy, therapies in general, human and equine anatomy and physiology and the many forms of healing available to explore. I hope I am not the only one who sometimes struggles with the sheer volume of information available, particularly when there appear to be literally thousands of “expert” views and voices?
The irony is of course, that you feel you have to be an expert on the information you are seeking out, in order to determine just which expert point of view is right, the most believable, the most believed, the most, well, expert.
It’s pretty intimidating as a newbie, trying to negotiate and find a voice in these worlds. It’s hardly surprising as we are all chasing the same information, the same insight and ability to interpret and affect outcomes in our own work. We are of course, all interested in the same ultimate goals, that of facilitating the health and wellbeing of humans and equines, of encouraging and enabling them to heal themselves.
The desire to stand out can result in hours spent scouring the web for the latest articles, the most fashionable, or favoured, the most obscure take on subjects, or the most controversial expression of them. I have tried this, but am not very good at it. I resolved to follow, rather than stick my head above the parapet and risk social media suicide by opening my mouth and expressing a view….. until I started watching Tristan Tucker and saw this quote.
You can interpret this quote and the idea of “you are losing”, in many ways. For me, it reflects on the flip side of the behaviour that I have described above. Whilst some people fight to share, the competitive nature of these worlds also seems to drive some people to believe that you will somehow become, or be seen to be more of an expert by protecting their knowledge and thereby, their competitive edge against fellow practitioners.
I don’t think you have to be an “expert” in order to share information and knowledge. Not all insight and experience is gained over many years, through specialisation or dedicated study. Some insight and experience is gained through having fresh eyes, the ability to listen well and to ask lots of questions.
Whether you are “long in the tooth”, or “fresh out of the box”, we all have something worth sharing. The skill is discovering the expert voices and views that you trust for all the right reasons.
Rightly, or wrongly, I usually go with my gut.
