Education
Can you guess what this blog post is about? Yes, I thought you would be able to. I’m not going to be writing about education in schools or the eduction system in general, but will address how we personally educate ourselves in our spare time.
One of the most useful things I’ve learned from this entire project is the ability to educate myself. Constantly doing things that challenge me is the perfect way to keep learning. Sometimes it will be learning an entirely new skill right from scratch. Other times it will be topping up my existing knowledge. Both of these situations require me to educate myself to overcome hurdles and usually require research and effort.
There are many ways that we can educate ourselves. It’s very easy these days to take a class, read a book or learn from someone experienced. All of these methods work wonders and are almost guaranteed to give us results. Being open to new ideas and keen to get involved with our own education is massively important and will make a huge difference to how much we learn.
Having spent a lot of time grappling with various things, I genuinely believe that whatever roadblock/wall we hit in life, education is the solution. I found that this was the case for dealing with anxiety and also the case for learning how to build a website (these are just two very contrasting examples, but I have many more). Whenever I have faced a “problem” in my life, education has been my saviour. Teaching myself new things and diving into whatever challenge I encounter has been extremely rewarding.
When we are struggling with something new or looking for answers, education is likely to have the answers we seek. By leaning into the subject we are struggling with and actually trying to educate ourselves on it with books, online articles, videos, teachers etc, we will be able to overcome these barriers. All of this probably seems blindingly obvious to you, but honestly, it can often get overlooked. Education isn’t always the easy option as it can take time and effort.
When we’re educating ourselves, it’s very common for us to become a beginner again. Being a beginner or being inexperienced can naturally make us feel uncomfortable. It’s important to remember that this is really just the start of a journey and shouldn’t ever be looked down on or seen as a negative. As an adult it can be difficult to not be good at something (very difficult) and we’ll often stop doing it/avoid it all together if we feel uncomfortable. It’s all too easy for us to throw in the towel when things get tricky. This can be a problem. The solution to this is relatively simple. We need to be persistent with our education. If one thing isn’t working, we need to try something else. If the book we’re reading isn’t helping, we need to change the book. Being persistent with different types of education will allow us to find what works best for us. Simple.
Figuring things out for myself and being a beginner in tons of different subjects has taught me a lot. It’s very important to enjoy the process over the end result. It can take time when you’re a beginner and learning something new is definitely a challenge! Instant gratification isn’t guaranteed, so we need to be persistent with the challenges that we face.
All of this might be painfully obvious, but ask yourself this… When was the last time you actually studied or learned something new? Something completely foreign and unfamiliar. Something that could take your life in a new direction. If this post does anything, let it drill down on the importance of constantly educating ourselves.
I believe that education can solve a lot of our problems. I also believe that it’s our personal responsibility to educate ourselves. So what new subject or skill will you learn today?
“Upon the subject of education... I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people may be engaged in.”