The benefits of learning - For fun, not necessity.
The what -
Learn about something that you are truly excited about. Learn about a new subject purely for enjoyment and fun, not because you 'need' to or because it would be 'useful'. Indulge yourself in gaining knowledge of the weird, the wonderful and the strangest of subjects.
The why -
When we are at school we learn, when we go to work, we learn, when we raise a family, we learn. But let's be honest, a lot of what we have learnt may not be things we would have chosen to give our focus to. A lot of what we learn is around necessity - learning geography so we can get to places, learning recipes to feed our family or learning to use that god awful system at work, so we can get our paycheck.
Learning can build your imagination, fill you with pride and open many doors but often it's the things we really want to learn that have the greatest and fastest effects on our well-being and our lives in general.
Now, let's say you really want to learn coding or take a people management course. Well let's hang on a minute - is that really what you want to learn or do those things just seem useful maybe?
Great, if these are the things that truly bring you joy but are they actually things you think you should learn about? Maybe to impress others or to help you improve at work? Then that's not really the subject that fills you with excitement. What we're looking for here is something you can't wait to find out more about. The something you could get totally lost in reading about for hours. I'm talking about that thing you always wanted to do but never quite managed to fit into your life, or maybe even you thought you would be judged for.
Get in the fun zone
Maybe what you actually want to learn about are famous jugglers, the history of pole dancing, haunted houses or the development of Barbie merchandise? Or perhaps you want to learn how to do something like grow giant vegetables, take great photos, bake beautiful cakes, make your own clothes or even how to take apart your whole car and put it all back together again. Ah now, we are in the fun zone!
Okay but hang on a minute, you've got a demanding pain in the arse boss, a partner you want to share your time with and your Auntie Edna's 70th bash to organise. You've no idea when you're going to find the time to cook dinner and you've just realised the service is due on your car on Tuesday and you haven't even booked it in yet. Let's face it, you don't have a lot of time to learn something fun that possibly holds no particular benefit to your already packed life!
No problemo Amigo because this is something to learn about just for fun, there's no pressure here! No one's expecting you to learn it, no one even needs to know about you doing it. So actually you have all the time in the world and can learn it in the tiniest of chunks! And you know what? People like to learn all sorts of weird and wonderful things and somehow they find the time to do it.
If you're not sure what you want to learn about - here are some places to go for a little inspiration;
Take a totally free course - how about one on happiness?
Project Gutenberg offers a library of over 70 thousand free e-books
Marawa Ibrahim is a world record holder for most hula hoops spun simultaneously - if you wanted to achieve a world record in something, what would it be?
Alison is a hub filled with free online courses
Learn about some weird stuff at Popular Science
Check out these boredom-busting courses and even learn how to write a song
Join Skill Share (there is a monthly membership fee) for a whole host of online courses
Check out these super easy to learn skills to use as your new party trick
Or what about learning about one of these interesting subjects? I recon I'm adding pet psychology to my list!
If you are able to invest in a course, you could even study to become a mermaid or better understand the art of clowning! Check out some other weird and wonderful courses ideas here
Want to learn an awesome new skill? Here are 125 ideas including my favourites - creating epic desserts and tie-dye-ing some stuff (because who doesn't love the idea of a tie-dyed couch?!)
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” — Anthony J. D’Angelo
There are also lots of easy ways to squeeze that bit of learning into your schedule. What about listening to a podcast while you're doing the washing up or watching a 'how to' video on YouTube, instead of scrolling through the news on your phone? You could follow related content and join groups online in relation to what you want to learn about.
If you prefer interaction to learn, you could join a group IRL or buddy up with a friend to learn something and share it with each other. You could also try taking online quizzes on the subject to test your growing knowledge or build a game, website or blog to share what you've learnt with others.
Be the mermaid you were born to be
Learning can be of massive benefit to how we feel. Learning about something new has been found to help people not only feel better about themselves but to also have a greater ability to cope with stress. Plus it's likely to give you a purpose, a feeling of hope and maybe even more self confidence.
The thing is, if you're struggling to find purpose or confidence then embarking on an enormous learning journey with tons of pressure and classes and exams and all that jazz is a lot, right? So just learn something for fun. Learn about something in a way that requires little effort because you really want to learn about it and you can easily squeeze it into your life. This way you still get all the benefits to your well-being of learning about something new but without adding too much weight to an already heavy load.
Life is for living and learning but it's also for having FUN! So make the fun part the reason to learn something and how to make your choice of what to learn about. You may think that subject you really want to know more about isn't of much benefit in your life but to you personally, your motivation and your well-being, I guarantee it will be.
So learn how to be a mermaid, tie dye your trainers and get hooked on crochet if that's what you would most enjoy learning about. Be the you that you want to be and learn what really helps you grow.
The Who -
This feather was inspired by the fact that I never learned to shuffle cards. A big issue in my life? Not often, no. But it was annoying on occasion and learning to shuffle cards properly was really fun! I'm still better at doing it when no one's watching though ;) #pressure
Lou @ Feathered Paths Xx
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