I’ve been learning a lot recently. It’s funny. As an adult, you learn so differently than you did as a child. It’s easier in some ways and it is so much harder in others.

I find that because it is conscious, it is easier. I know what I am learning and I know why I am learning it. If it is for work, it is clearly defined and usually time specific. I need to learn this software program in order to do X by the fifteen of next month. It is a task. it is usually quite contained. I have something I need to do and the software is the way to do it and I need to learn the software in order to get this task done.

When it is for personal use, it is often less defined, less time specific and less clear what, if  anything, is going to be accomplished - but it is still conscious.

I am the one making the decision. People forget that they always have a choice about learning. No one is going to make you learn something. It just usually is that people do not want to live with the consequences of not learning whatever it is that they “need” to learn( at work or in a new relationship).

We rarely chart our process as we learn something new. We just see it in terms of whether we can do what we need to do. Can I send an email with a photograph enbedded in it? (or whatever job we set ourselves to learn). We might learn things that we can’t use today or tomorrow but might need in the future.  It is often an uncomfortable time when we are so acutely aware of what we do not know. It’s something that happens in school so much that we are constantly told what we do not know but in adult life, we can often avoid focusing on what we do not know and stay with what we do know. I am sure we all know people who at a dinner or other social setting just talk about what they know even if no one else shares that knowledge or enjoyment of that topic.

” Let me tell you about the aging process of the Blue Lascar Butterfly of the Burmese Highlands.” This might be right after someone mentioned a new movie called ” The Blood Pool of Knightsend”.

It’s sometimes makes me feel sad when I witness this because the person feels so out of place, they can’t even stay quiet and wait until the conversation comes back to something they do know about and can share in the conversation about.

I am reading a book about adults learning a new language as adults( Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich). The author says how hard it is and then offers studies that back her up on many fronts. Language is one set of skills but anything we learn as adults has a progression.

We talk about the learning curve but when you are actually in a learning situation, it is tough to see that it will all become more clear and that before too long we will be more knowledgeable than we were before.

I say, keep learning, it keeps the brain well oiled. We don’t all need to learn a new language or musical instrument but keep learning. Deal with feeling uncomfortable for the time in between when we do not know anything and when we start to know a little. Rejoice. You are uncomfortable but you are doing a great thing. Keep learning, encourage others to learn as well. It will help us all if we all keep learning.