"I believe that education, therefore, is a process of living and not preparation for future living."
-John Dewey
I am often given bewildered looks (at best) or criticized (at worst) for my insatiable need to learn, digest and disseminate information. On any given week I am reading 4 to 5 books, endless papers and online journals, and asking constant questions and, generally, driving the sedate, less nerdy people around me insane. I don't have anything to prove. It's fun. To me it isn't "work", which is what most people who shake their heads at me don't understand. But I don't understand the things they do for fun. Watching sports on TV isn't fun (but playing sports is!). Going to noisy bars isn't fun (but dancing in your living room with friends is!). Flipping through People Magazine isn't fun (but reading A People's History of the United States is!) Learning something new...now THAT is a good time! I balance this with day-job working, grad school, making art, teaching yoga, and raising two children and teaching them everything I think I know (yesterday it was Dawkin's theory of the "first person on Earth" based on an inquiry Benji made). I have been asked if I have ADD or ADHD. I do not. I am intensely focused. I have a lot of energy. I also rarely watch TV and don't have a cell phone (the two biggest time sucks I can see in modern life). People assume I am miserable and exhausted. I am not. Rather, learning and making things makes me intensely happy. Things that get in the way of doing that (like being given mundane tasks at work or washing dishes or traffic or having an non-supportive environment) are what make me cranky. I guess I just don't want to miss anything. There are so many beautiful and horrible and interesting things to learn about and experience while I am alive. People warn me I'm going to "crash." Yes, I do occasionally get sick like the rest of the population but I'm not manic. I don't "crash." This is just how I am. I'm calm (ish). I sleep regular hours. I eat well. I've been this way for 32 years and I haven't sunk into a numb funk yet. The only times in my life I've stopped reading for more than 24 hours were post-concussion and post eye-surgery. An insatiable need to learn, question, discover and make things isn't an illness, it is a way of life. Try it, you may like it!
If you would like to read a review of the The Magic of Reality, the Dawkins' book I was referencing, visit The Guardian.
