I love being an amateur
One of my favorite words ever is the word amateur.
Merriam Webster tells us that ‘the earliest sense of amateur ("one that has a marked fondness, liking, or taste") is strongly connected to its roots: the word came into English from the French amateur, which in turn comes from the Latin word for “lover” (amator). This has led some people to assume that the word is properly used only in the sense “one who performs something for love rather than for money.” However, as is the case with so many other English words, amateur may mean two strikingly different things, referring to one who does something for the love of it and also to one who is not terribly competent at something.’
I’ve always found that second definition, that the term amateur is being used to define someone’s lack of competence, extremely depressing.
Because I think there’s a real beauty in being an amateur. Sure, it might be my Latin infusing into my brain, making me define amateur as a lover of something rather than focusing on incompetence, but truly I think it would be helpful if more people embraced their amateur status, and were not so obsessed with perfection.
Hell, I could define myself as an amateur in so many different aspects. I’m an amateur dancer; I do it because I love it, not because I think I’m particularly good at it, though I’m sure I’m better than most. I’m an amateur singer, because the attempt to be any more professional made me want to die inside. I’m an amateur writer, because I am not a professional, but also because the amount of love I hold for this craft cannot go unnoticed. I’m an amateur actor; this one might be because of a lack of competence. I do love the process though. I’m an amateur translator, for many of the same reasons I am an amateur writer.
And I could go on, because experiencing things like these means a great deal to me, and yes, because I’m not a professional by any means, some of them are harder to indulge fruitfully. But that doesn’t mean I enjoy them any less. I dance in my room, sing to myself, act whenever I step foot in front of other people, write like I’m doing now; all because I love it, and I want to do it, not because I see any sort of perfection. It's just because I see the good in doing it, and that makes it good enough.
~dys