I have probably uttered a variation on this sentence a million times in all my years, and it stresses me out! I, like many others, like to know things that I am supposed to know, and to know them when I am supposed to know them. I fear being left behind. I yearn for the knowledge that I am on track, that I am where I am supposed to be and doing well. I think in this anxious scrapping for knowledge that we feel we should have, we miss all the fun in getting there. When we anguish in the not knowing of something, we forget all the doors open to us by not knowing, all the doors we get to open and test in the figuring out of things.
I think a trap a lot of people fall into, including myself, is imagining that there is a set type of things we are supposed to understand at certain points in our life. We imagine each section of our lives as a vessel that is to be filled up before we can move on to the next part. High school, for example, is one such vessel. It seems like a place where we are supposed to learn enough from our classes to survive on college and move on. But when we imagine things this way we limit ourselves to the endless possibilities of our own wandering minds. We should feel free to imagine beyond what is expected, to be hungry for more than what is needed, to be comfortable having not figured something out yet. We must find the value in the journey to figuring something out instead of all that we place in having the answer. It is in the journey where we find out what interests us and examine those things and take as many detours as we can to fill ourselves with more than we thought necessary. I know this is something I have to work on. I have to relax when I don't have all the answers because looking for them is what makes us fully developed people, people who have looked at things from all angles and have real, valuable opinions about the world because we have taken the time to look around.
I like how you reference high school as a time when we are expected to learn certain things in order to truly be prepared for college. Today, we tend to think that we will come out of high school knowing everything we need to know to be successful. However, while school is necessary to be ready, so are other experiences. We need to examine society, ourselves, and the people around us to fully understand the world. I also agree that detours are necessary. Who says that we need to go to college right after high school or that we need to find a job right away? Why not take time to explore and learn new things from different environments. We should take time to enjoy life and live stress free.
ReplyDeleteOur generation definitely needs to work on being more process oriented. From grades, standardized testing, money, etc we've been conditioned to be product oriented and this is dangerous. I think its causing a lot of unhappiness because simply doing is not enough anymore- its all about what you have to offer.
ReplyDeleteWe look for end results and answers instead of our journeys to get there. I agree with your fear of being left behind. We don't want to risk falling behind and speed through all we can. We examine everything and only want to be around those who have something to offer us in an effort to move forward.
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