On Continuing Our Learning

“People think of education as something they can finish.” Isaac Asimov

Whether it’s issues pertaining to society, discoveries about ourselves, or academic information we are (should be!) constantly learning.

I am always learning. If I had a personal motto, it would be “I learn.”

I love learning new things and sometimes even relearning old things (although I must admit I get aggravated if I have to relearn the same thing too often). My personal education about life and myself is never done. Certainly that is true for anything and everything: new information, new understandings, etc.

As an artist I love it but I also find it exhausting at times. There is always something to learn, or improve, or adjust. Techniques I’ve used for years can be tweaked, and if that were all I was doing that would be fine. But while I’m making those adjustments, I’m also learning something new (like a new machine for example, or a different technique in conjunction with the one I’m tweaking), and perhaps adapting something else to what I’m working on now. So, I’m doing multiple new things all at once.

Add to that the ability and willingness to stay open minded to completely new ideas and ways - especially just when I’m getting comfortable with how I do things now - it can be a lot. Compound the learning in the art work itself with new discoveries about myself and new understandings about the socio-cultural world in which we live and interact and it can all become a bit overwhelming.

I understand why some people *just can’t*.

I’m only too glad I’m not one of them.