Simple Skill

Yesterday, I learned a lesson I thought I already knew. You see, for years, I’ve had someone professionally wrap my nails with acrylic and gel. Last weekend, she couldn’t make our Saturday appointment, and I was too busy to see her on Sunday. By the time the new week started, my nail wraps were lifting, and I could tell I was about to lose some of my natural nails underneath. I looked at the situation and thought to myself, “How difficult could it be?”

I bought the materials and decided to do it myself. Within a few minutes, reality set in. It wasn’t as easy as it looked. Not the slightest.

The neat finish I had admired for years suddenly became a mystery. The smooth application and how she shapes the nails and her precision. I began to even think about her patience. I dawned on me, it all required a level of skill I simply didn’t have. By the time I was done… Done here means I gave up, I had gained something far more valuable than a fresh set of very badly done nails: I gained a renewed respect for the woman who has been doing them all these years.

That experience reminded me of something that happened years ago.

My husband once watched me write an inscription on a cake. He complained about how it didn’t look as pretty as it should be. At that time I was yet to master the art, but I was doing alright. In his mind, writing on a cake couldn’t be that difficult.

So I handed him the piping bag.

He barely started before he realized what I had known all along.
He smiled, admitted defeat, and handed the piping bag back to me with the words, “Everybody naim sabi how dem de do their handwork o.”

Keeping your hand steady, controlling the pressure, spacing the letters correctly, maintaining consistency, and creating something beautiful on a soft surface is not something you simply “pick up.” It is a skill developed over time through practice, patience, mistakes, and experience.

Yesterday, I found myself doing exactly the same thing with my nail technician’s craft.

Life has a funny way of keeping us humble.

We often look at someone else’s work and think, I can do that. But what we usually see is the finished product, not the countless hours of learning, failing, improving, and mastering that came before it.

The truth is that every profession, every trade, every craft carries a level of expertise that deserves respect. Whether it’s a baker, a hairdresser, a nail technician, a tailor, a carpenter, an accountant, a teacher, or a mechanic, each person has invested time in becoming good at what they do.

No skill is insignificant.

No craft is “easy” just because someone else makes it look effortless.

Perhaps that’s the real mark of mastery: making difficult things appear simple.

So today, I celebrate people who have taken the time to become excellent at their craft. And I remind myself that I don’t have to be good at everything. It’s perfectly okay to appreciate someone else’s expertise instead of trying to replace it.

After all, everyone is perfect in their own skill.

The next time you’re tempted to say, “How hard can it be?” remember that someone has spent years making it look that easy.

And maybe… just maybe… that’s worth applauding.

What’s one skill you once thought was easy until you tried it yourself? I’d love to hear your story.

Author: Emaistace

wife, mom, sister, daughter, aunty, friend. writing my everyday thoughts as they pop up. View all posts by Emaistace