Stay Curious
Academic Purgatory
Lifelong learning. Sounds awfully dull, doesn't it? It suggests an eternity of exams, schoolyard bullying and soul crushing lectures. Exactly the sort of experiences that we want to put behind us. Now bear with me whilst I spit out all the reasons why this is not so.
But before that, let us settle on a new phrase; Stay Curious. Now that's more like it. Nice 'n' positive. By Staying Curious, we keep our minds open to new challenges, growth and perspective. A far more soulful, much less formal experience.
Beautiful stuff.
Curiosity By Default
Now that we feel all warm and gooey about learning, how do we make this happen? Well, this is where you take control. Start with this screen. Look at these words. How did you access them? Where are you reading them? Altogether, it probably wasn't a taxing affair. It's not like you had to walk to school.
Now just think about the incredible simplicity of this. Simple, but dangerous. Most folks may just passively accept the words put in front of them, whether via social media feeds, mainstream TV etc. Its very easy to do, for sure. I still find myself sucked into cute animal Twitter. But by changing the tune, you can stay curious pretty much by default.
Play and Flourish
Change the source of information entering your life. Honestly, it just changes everything. You don't even have to quit social media. In fact, I've started using Twitter so much more since I started Staying Curious. You just have to treat these rich wells of content with respect. When I pick up my phone now, I'm basically learning by default. A little bit more. Every single day. That is how I built websites from scratch with zero formal education. It is what gave me courage to write these words. It forged a new focus; to become my best self. That's it.
So Stay Curious, folks.
Signing out, Steven.
Photo by Philip Brown on Unsplash.