i do not know if you are anything like me but if you are wanting to keep that pretty little brain of yours active, i have a couple ideas!
FIVE WAYS TO KEEP LEARNING:
READ BOOKS
i am sure you live near a library of sorts. check out their book selection. see what is on their must read list. pick up one book (do not overwhelm yourself) finish it and trade it for a new book. it is okay if it takes you weeks (or even months) to read a book. life is busy but you are growing your vocabulary and imagination by letting yourself dive into a book. if you need ideas of where to start, look around at the blogs you follow – a lot of them have a currently reading section.
i am reading Les Mis right now and i have been for a month now. feel free to join me on this journey! i am learning tons of new words and finding myself clicking the “define” button in my kindle multiple times a page but it is making my brain work and i am loving the story!
TRAVEL
when you go to a new place you are automatically learning new things because things are done differently. whether is is taking a plane to the other side of the world or just driving to an old mountain town, there is so much to learn about a new place. talk to the locals and hear their stories. go to a museum. read all those historical signs on the side of the road. eat something local. you fun vacation can be filled with learning (and you might not even notice!)
PICK UP A NEW HOBBY
if you have always wanted to sew, do it! take a class. buy a sewing book. ask your mom to teach you. why not pick up a hobby you have always wanted to do but never done? pick something and research it. see what you will need to do to pick up that hobby – photography, running, yoga, chess club, book club, bird watching, scrap booking… the list is endless. it will be a fun kind of learning because you are using it to accomplish your goal.
TAKE CLASSES AT A LOCAL ART SCHOOL OR COLLEGE
i am looking at my local school for a photography class (as i mentioned). i think it would be so fun to learn and taking only one class at a time is pretty easy to mix with my busy schedule. my husband and i took a pottery class over the summer and we learned how to throw pots on a wheel! it was so fun even though his pots were infinitely better than mine!! there are lots of art classes i would enjoy taking and other classes about people. i would love to keep my degree up to date with classes here and there.
CHALLENGE YOURSELF
next time you say “i can’t ___________” (fill in the blank) add “yet!” like right now i always tell my husband “i can’t cook” and then we eat out and spend so much money. if i said “i can’t cook yet” then there is more hope in the statement! maybe i should start looking up recipes, finding things i enjoy making, taking a cooking class, paying attention to how long things are in the oven.. (things like that). it is a way to learn something that will be immediately helpful in your life. just pick one thing and work hard on it.
all this to say that i want to keep learning.
and i plan to my whole life.
right now elizabeth is reading for fun, learning how to cook to save money on food, and taking a class to become a photographer.
