I’m really excited about EA since I found out about it ~6 years ago. I think I always had the underlying impression that I’m not smart enough to contribute to anything except by donating and being a welcoming and generally knowledgable cheerleader in my local group. Maybe two years ago I started realizing that this mindset, while keeping me from feeling bad about making mistakes, was also keeping me from growing. Since then I try to push myself to make up my own mind more and I started to take part in discussions on the EA forum, mostly when I feel like I wouldn’t increase the noise too much with my comments, e.g. when nobody else commented, or I feel strongly that what I comment adds something. (Reading this, I feel like the true story is messier, but it describes a facet of how my engagement changed.)
I second the ‘not feeling smart enough to contribute’ - I am also 6yrs old and still get overwhelmed by the incredibly thinkers, the jargon, and the philosophical arguments that become so abstract my head hurts. I was pretty happy being a ‘generally knowledgeable cheerleader’, but now I am without a local group, so I guess I’ll let your leap inspire me and try grow a bit myself.
I also experienced the hesitation to contribute. The more involved I’ve gotten, the more inspired I’ve been by the many people I’ve met who are creating ideas and solutions to problems they care about. I have started doing more of that in my own EA circle, being less afraid of ‘being wrong’. It’s been very satisfying.
I’m really excited about EA since I found out about it ~6 years ago. I think I always had the underlying impression that I’m not smart enough to contribute to anything except by donating and being a welcoming and generally knowledgable cheerleader in my local group. Maybe two years ago I started realizing that this mindset, while keeping me from feeling bad about making mistakes, was also keeping me from growing. Since then I try to push myself to make up my own mind more and I started to take part in discussions on the EA forum, mostly when I feel like I wouldn’t increase the noise too much with my comments, e.g. when nobody else commented, or I feel strongly that what I comment adds something. (Reading this, I feel like the true story is messier, but it describes a facet of how my engagement changed.)
I second the ‘not feeling smart enough to contribute’ - I am also 6yrs old and still get overwhelmed by the incredibly thinkers, the jargon, and the philosophical arguments that become so abstract my head hurts. I was pretty happy being a ‘generally knowledgeable cheerleader’, but now I am without a local group, so I guess I’ll let your leap inspire me and try grow a bit myself.
I also experienced the hesitation to contribute. The more involved I’ve gotten, the more inspired I’ve been by the many people I’ve met who are creating ideas and solutions to problems they care about. I have started doing more of that in my own EA circle, being less afraid of ‘being wrong’. It’s been very satisfying.