I don’t really care what anyone says— habit is the best teacher. when you become comfortable enough to experiment and not fear disaster, that’s when you really learn. You can of course form bad habits if you aren’t pushed to grow and adapt, or if you learned the basics incorrectly and have been reproducing them poorly. But when something becomes a habit it’s also easier to examine what you’re doing every time you’re doing it rather than wasting energy worrying that you’re doing it in the first place.

No amount of lessons could help me learn to drive as much as just being told to go drive across the state. No amount of tips could help me learn to cook as much as my parents asking me to do simple tasks every day for dinner. No amount of instruction helped me learn to ride a horse as much as doing the same things over and over and having a critical and fair instructor to tell me what not to take for granted in my confidence. Nothing taught me more about writing than just doing it. Over, and over, and over again. And seeing months later what not to keep. And what to do next time.

Nothing taught me more about how to speak, despite my stutter, than just speaking, every day, reading aloud. Not even actual courses on public speaking.

People talk a lot about bad habits but habit is your friend. Just that habit without a careful eye and good self-awareness is complacency.