Always Learning

I have a goal of being a life long learner. There are studies about how important it is to pick up new knowledge, how it helps the elasticity of our brains, how it can postpone the development of Alzheimer’s and dementia… learning is a big deal at any age! Considering the fact that the majority of Americans haven’t picked up a book to read in the last year I feel like we need to actively combat our idea that education stops when we graduate from school (whether it’s a home education environment or a traditional brick and mortar school building).

What have you learned in the last year? If you can’t answer that, consider why. Is it because you haven’t really noticed? Because you really haven’t learned anything? Because nothing has inspired you to seek out information?

When I first posed this question to myself, I couldn’t think of what I’ve learned this year. I started to go back through the photos of this past year and realized I actually have a decent list.

Some things I’ve learned this year:

• New crochet stitches
• How to dry felt in 3D
• How to clean my microwave effectively
• How to speak at conferences and engage and educate the audience
• The way tendons work in a dog’s hind leg
• History around the Boston, MA area and how it related to the American Revolution
• What happens to your fingernail when you smash it in a door and it falls off
• There is a garlic capital of America in California and it smells really good there
• How to create a shelter for and feed goats for a 4H market project
• How to hatch quail eggs in an incubator
• How to sew a Jacquelyn Kennedy costume
• What baby chicks need to survive
• That traveling circuses are actually pretty cool
• How to grow cucumbers, zucchini, and okra in our garden
• That Bubby is allergic to mosquito bites
• You can see the curvature of the Earth at Bonneville Salt Flats
• Artists with access to drugs and black lights can create some very creative items
• How to design and decorate for a vacation rental
• That birch tree bark comes off in flat layers
• Lobster meat can be squeezed out of their legs and it looks like a pimple popping
• Driving schools are really not exciting to take to clear your name of a ticket
• Crocheted Christmas pickles look pornographic
• Instant pot brownie bites can look like little turds on a plate
• Lyra is a beautiful form of athleticism
• Slime is close to glitter as a form of the devil’s handiwork

See – that whole list was created just from looking at the photos on my phone in the last year and thinking with an open mind! I bet you have the same type of list and I’d love to hear it!

What are you doing to continue life long learning this year?