Pursue Your Interests and Fuel Your Life - Never Stop Learning!
- kendallmayes
- Oct 3
- 2 min read
Life is meant to be lived, and being alive is an opportunity to expand, grow, and thrive as individuals! But, exactly how does each one of us accomplish this? What really is it that constitutes an enjoyable, happy, and successful life? What makes us feel that sense of contentment and leads us into that space of confidence, where we know we are thriving? Some feel that the pinnacle of life belongs to the world’s youth, to people in their twenties and thirties with so much life ahead of them. But, is fulfillment guaranteed because a person is chronologically young and has seeming advantages because of their age?
Without a doubt, the questions posed about attaining contentment and success elicit a multitude of different responses; but, a truth common among all of them is the fact that a combination of factors is at work in helping individuals to achieve and sustain a fulfilling life. However, when these factors are distilled to reveal substantial components, certain foundational elements surface that are key in helping people of all ages to soar. Indeed, when each of us stops to consider factors relative to our own lives, we discover patterns of emphasis that speak volumes. And, from such self-examination, we can each attest to the fact that there is a euphoric feeling we experience when we engage in an activity we enjoy, when we acquire a new skill, or when we learn new information about an appealing subject. This satisfaction is evidence of the inherent need each of us has to actively feed our well-being through engagement, which ultimately requires that we keep learning!
Some associate the concept of learning with the structured institution of school - a societal construct often only narrowly applied to children within secondary educational institutions and young adults at the college or university level. But, should learning be viewed as a boxed commodity that is the privilege of just a few? That view runs counter to the fact that each of us has been learning across life, long before being introduced to any type of school institution. That view is also in opposition to the fact that, throughout life, each of us has continued learning on various levels, even if we are no longer affiliated with a formal school institution. Nevertheless, it is when we individually harness learning as a powerful tool, shown by planned, intentional learning, that learning becomes the element that can fuel life! Those who are past their twenties and thirties who have adopted a lifelong learning approach have reported higher levels of contentment and well-being than many who rarely engage in intentional learning. When we closely examine what interests us individually, we are preparing the soil for lifelong learning that will lead to our becoming unstoppable. Nurturing our well-being through lifelong learning is a gift that infuses life with new meaning from day to day, keeping the present and our future bright! This principle is addressed in the following two articles and TED Talk that can be accessed below.
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