Facing my fears - part 1
Added 2023-02-09 18:00:04 +0000 UTCWe've touched on the fact that we attended a workshop for professionals near the end of last year. And I've really been wanting to sit down and tell you guys all about it but its been hard to find the time to do so because there was just a lot to it and understanding where my fear stemmed from was a huge part I felt like needed to be shared so that you understood where I was coming from.
This experience is going to be shared in 3 parts, here is the first - explaining where my fear came from. I'm gonna be honest, this topic has me very uncomfortable!
Comments
Thanks Jeffrey, I appreciate that, that's very true. I probably need to spend less energy on trying to prove people wrong when it comes to their assumptions about us.
BirdTricks
2023-03-06 00:51:25 +0000 UTCThank you, Dana!
BirdTricks
2023-03-06 00:50:33 +0000 UTCYou are actually very scientific. I'm a physician and science researcher. You explore, test, and continuously learn - that's science. You are experts because you apply scientific principles. I've learned so much from both of you.
Jeffrey Shelton
2023-03-04 13:19:40 +0000 UTCThere was one particular Budgie video you posted that showed the difficulty and mistakes. That ONE video made me decide to have hope and not rehome my Budgie Lily. SO I hope knowing that helps. YOu guys being willing to show those things actually saved the day!!!!
Dana R Hatch
2023-02-18 22:31:59 +0000 UTCThis was such an informative video, and in ways you might not even fully grasp! When I talk about my bird’s diet or get some new BirdTricks toys or relay something on learned in the FaceBook community, people will say oh, I’m not into trick training — or my immediate family, being a little mean, will say, But your bird doesn’t even know any tricks! (Honestly, rude!) I sometimes struggle to explain that it’s not really about the tricks, although that’s an added bit of fun when you get there. So I really appreciate Dave saying (oh yes, I wrote it down!), “using tricks for training is a way to create a new language that you can then share with your bird to develop a stronger relationship and a better understanding with each other.” Also, hearing you talk about Steve Martin, I was like, that is exactly how I (and a lot of other people!) feel about meeting you in a MasterClass! They’re probably going to hate me and tell me I am doing everything wrong and I’m going to be so embarrassed and get all sweaty… — even though that is not the experience that attendees report after the fact, but still… 😉
Julie K
2023-02-11 23:45:38 +0000 UTCThis was fascinating. Thank you for being so open to us. Journeys like this aren't easily shared because of the emotions in them but you've done a great job so far and I'm looking forward to the other parts of the story! And yes, screw ups are part and parcel to being human. I work with an office full of Ph.D.s and I can tell you from first hand knowledge that education doesn't shield you from messing up...quite often I might add!! Scientific terms are mainly used to allow the user feel they have the upper hand in whatever situation they're in. When you say things in terms people understand AND you let them see your mistakes you're just GIVING your power away...I mean, the horror!!!!😯😉
Kelly Sanchez
2023-02-10 12:40:09 +0000 UTCThis was wonderful, might listen to this again this weekend and comment something after processing this story again. I do love learning by storytelling, a my absolutely loved and most favorite educational strategy! Just wanted to tell you how heartwarming and beautiful this story was, it was a wonder to listen to and I enjoyed tuning into the story attentively 🌸🙏🏻
Guy Goldstein K
2023-02-09 20:14:36 +0000 UTCI have been following BirdTricks since the beginning days of Dave and Chet. I purchased the original course. I remember when Jamie first started working with parrots. I've witnessed the maturity of BirdTricks firsthand. In turn I have matured with how I raise my birds. It started with a cockatiel that I inherited from my grandmother. She meant well, but with no information other than dated care books written for breeders, the care she gave her birds was severely lacking. With BirdTricks help I watched that angry little cockatiel blossom into an amazing pet. He passed a few years ago. Fast forward to our little Hahn's macaw, Oscar, who is on the BirdTricks feeding system and loves training. I can't thank BirdTricks enough for taking pet parrot care out of the stone age. On another note, I can completely relate to being self taught and not knowing technical terms. I fell into a career in data analytics and had to teach myself everything. Often when I saw a scientific method of doing something I would laugh because I leaned to do things the same way through trial and error. Being self taught can have drawbacks like strange gaps in knowledge. However, it also helped me better explain concepts to non- technical people, just as BirdTricks is doing. Keep learning and growing! I guarantee that the scientific community is secretly watching and learning from you too!
Holden Kendrick
2023-02-09 20:08:24 +0000 UTCThank you for sharing this! That fear of acceptance is something that we all can relate to in our own way. I have a 10-year-old daughter who would love to work with animals in some capacity professionally someday, and I teared up when you were speaking about the email response you sent. So powerful. I'm an extreme and careful researcher. I stumbled on BirdTricks when I was preparing to bring home our first bird and meticulously researched everything I could dig up to find out if you guys were a credible resource for me to use. I saw it all online—the positive reviews and the mean vitriol you faced, especially several years ago. I spent some time with more "scientific" resources, too, webinars from the scientific community, books, courses, etc., and honestly, nothing was as helpful as you. I LOVE learning about the scientific side, in fact, I'm attending a seminar in a few weeks with Dr. Irene Pepperberg that I'm super excited for, but at the end of the day, I know with 100% certainty that my birds would not be thriving the way that they are without BirdTricks. Full stop. You all also make the content accessible enough for my daughter, and we have fun learning together and training our birds together. So thank you for continuing on, and doing something that benefits us all, even through the negativity—and even pushing through fear to learn and grow more. You're making a real difference. <3
Brittany King
2023-02-09 18:46:05 +0000 UTCOh my God, thank you for sharing this! It’s honestly life affirming, for someone who immerses them self in both the scientific and the more pet focused communities, it can be really hard to figure out where I belong as well, so this makes me feel much less alone. Feel free to drop me a message on here if you feel like comparing notes. I did consider going into more detail here, but the comment got rather long and there was a lot of personal detail in there, so I decided I’d really rather keep it short and give you the opportunity to reach out if you’re interested in doing so.
Stephanie Edwards
2023-02-09 18:45:38 +0000 UTC
