There is something in my upbringing or in my DNA that propels me to always be learning something. When I was young I was shuttled between music and dance classes. This curiosity or drive to always be learning has not waned with old age. In fact, as I get older I find so many other things I want to learn. This list of things I want to learn seems to grow each year. I know my love of learning is not one shared by everyone. Very few of my friends do much in terms of learning new skills whether for a vocation or avocation. Perhaps, it is because they want to feel an expert in their life rather than one in perpetual learning mode–all obviously in contrast to my approach to my own life.
I know I’ll be one of those octogenarians pushing her walker on a college campus, going from one class to another. I’ve thought about why it is I like learning and have not come up with a good answer, other than it being driven from my curiosity about everything around me. If at the Met, one of my favorite museums, I’ll notice the tapestries and think, gosh, wouldn’t it be great to take a class on tapestries from the 18th century? Not, how magnificent, and leave it simply at that. That’s just how my brain works, unfortunately for my husband.
Of late, it’s my French classes. Even as I refresh myself with the language I studied through junior high and high school, I’m looking ahead to the other areas of French language studies that I will take. I know I will head back to dance classes as I keep toying with the idea of dancing again, an ongoing internal debate I’ve had every year since I stopped dancing. Perhaps that is why it might be prudent for me to get started on that PhD program since this concentrated study will bring forth a focused expertise, no matter how obscure and narrow my dissertation.
No doubt, even as I get overwhelmed by the workload of a PhD program, I will still find other classes offered on the campus that will peak my interest–did someone mention west African basket weaving?
