The Love of Learning

By Amanda Pasciucco, Marriage and Family Therapist

I woke up today and I was so excited. I looked in my planner... appointments were filled, meetings had been made, and a few scattered minutes were left in between. When "lunch time" came, I was asked to go out with a co-worker. I politely refrained from joining and shut my office door. I raced to the Internet. Immediately, I began scrolling for local continuing education certificates being offered, new networking opportunities, and any available resource to help me expand my already hectic schedule. I grinned with delight as my eyes saw the amazing new opportunities that were available for me to participate in. My eyes were scanning the computer screen so quickly that I was barely letting one opportunity sink in before I jumped to the next possibility. "The world is my playground," I thought to myself.

At the end of the day, on my hour-long drive home, I finally had time to reflect. I began thinking about the joy that I have from new opportunities and learning. Then I thought about some of my friends and realized that not everyone has the same passion that I do for gaining knowledge. I tried to justify their reasoning... no time, no interest, content in their own schedule. None of the reasons seemed "good enough" for me.

I thought that this is the time to take advantage of all that life has to offer. Why would anyone just be "fine" with what they have? It's so important to love the opportunities that you are given. I believe that you should try to be a constant learner and scholar of Life. There is so much out there to learn, so don't sell yourself short and limit your ability to experience new things.

Each day is a gift and we should seize the day. When you are older, you will look back at your life and judge if you got the most out of it. You don't want to look back in regret. Each day, try to find the "highlight" of your day. Don't let another mundane Monday pass you by. Before you go to sleep, write out the highlight of your day - no matter how small it was. Then plan and get excited for tomorrow's opportunities. The joy that you will get from this exercise will greatly improve your outlook on each day that passes by.