Learn Something
I read a fantastic quote from T.H. White’s Once and Future King, which is the King Arthur story. Arthur comes to Merlyn, disappointed, and Merlyn answers:
The best thing for being sad… is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails … That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting.
I love that because it’s true. When I’m in a rut or feeling unanchored, overwhelmed, upset, then learning something, finding something new to be passionate about, pulls me out of the feeling.
I can’t think of a single time I’ve sought out information and then regretted learning something new. I mean, sure, I was never thrilled being told what I had to learn in school. But making projects for myself? Choosing my own books? Looking up things that I’m curious about? Zero regrets. 100% feeling at least slightly better.
I have a project for myself right now. And it’s kind of sort of awesome to be learning new things first thing every morning.
3 comments
I love this idea. I haven’t learned something new just for fun in a long time. Usually, it’s job-related or kids-related, but I haven’t really thought about indulging my own curiosity.
Thank you for posting this!
I loved that book, Once and Future King. And I love that you are loving learning something new.
I, too, get a charge out of a new project!
But sometimes it’s also accompanied by lots of frustration (I’m looking at you, Kajabi).
I feel as if I’m constantly learning new things. Just yesterday reading a friend’s blog, I learned about “cantirs”, and flowers called “four o’clocks.”I love learning, but have never linked it with using it as a form of therapy almost. But it makes complete sense to me.