Learning To Learn

Sometimes you don’t realise there is a lesson to be learned until you’re away from it all.

I was forever selling the notion short, whenever the topic of education was brought up I’d think back to sterile cycles of school. My mind didn’t quite light up in those rooms. “Get a good education,” they said, “It will make you a valuable member of society.” I heard this for a very long time, so I was understandably deflated whenever my report card fell short of the winning benchmarks. My parents wanted the best for me, and bringing in those C’s and D’s was hard to stomach. I eventually figured it out and learned to play the game the right way, I held up the grades long enough to get into university and made it to the big stage. The race was almost run, I had it all worked out ahead of me. I knew the plan like it was mine, a plan written out before I was born or regarded as having “potential”. I was on track to meet to target, but I hadn’t counted on falling in love.

I fell off and away from the ladder that I climbed to success. It felt as though I was over half way up before my knees gave up on me, and I was back at the bottom. I admittedly lost sight of the rungs prescribed when I spent a little more time serenading my muse with my version of life. It was a new feeling that warped this straight line chalked into the road ahead of me. There wasn’t much scope for a fella who served two years at a good school to leave and try to write his wrongs. The ordeal was a game changer, writing and reading a whole lot was a good feeling, though a strange feeling, because it changed the way I pieced things together. Until the year I left university, I had probably only read five books that the teacher hadn’t told me to read. It was easy to play the game, but I only ever did enough to beat the system. This kept my teachers satisfied but my mind hungry for so much more. I started to find the true extent of that hunger from the seat of my trousers, after a fall from grace.

I was warned about writing before I got started on in it in a serious way. They talked about the money I won’t make while I was playing around with all these books, they made no mention of the wealth to be gained from curiosity and genuine interest.

There was so much to know and it all made a world of difference. I wasn’t on the clock any more, but time stopped whenever I picked up a pen or book, it’s so different when it’s yours, the time, the love. I re-remember them talking. “Get a good education”, in this new place it all makes sense, and I’m hip to it in a different way. I could have stayed in those classes to win their dream, but the right tools used in a wrong way – are a sure way to make a mess.

There’s education around you, take to it properly and you could be the difference maker, a valuable member of society. When I let my passion and curiosity guide me, I learned how to learn and my true education began.

I love soaking up these new lessons that are all around me, understanding how to learn was the difference. There isn’t always going to be someone there to push you in the right direction, and some times the push comes but your eyes aren’t wise to whats happening, it’s almost like learning to see again. I’d love to see more brothers and sisters eager to learn. When something really gets you excited it gets you eager to dive deeper into the rabbit hole. As crazy as it sounds, you have to be willing to go to places you’ve never been before to figure it all out. Ask those questions, dig around for those answers.

Learning the importance of learning through a passion had me poking at this puzzle of pedagogy. I get really excited and try to bring it out of the people around me, but you cant force change on to anyone. When it works from the inside out – you won’t need to be around to coax the fire back to life, it rages as it is and stays fuelled by the world around. Everyone is different, we touch that spark inside our students, both inside the classroom and out, in different ways. There is no limit this potential, the crazy thing about potential is that it’s there even before you think it is. It’s a mindset game, effort plays a big part, and when you fall in love like I did, you’ll take to the challenge without promoting.

Written by The Blissful Nomad

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