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I’m going back to school! Sadly, I don’t mean for a Master’s degree (as much as I would love one, it is not at all necessary for what I want to do at this time and I would rather travel with the money it would take to get a Master’s), but I will be taking classes again. This time for fun. These classes are not to help me get a job in the career of my choice, but rather to learn something that I want learn simply because I want to. I’m going to be taking French lessens!
My husband is returning to school today for the fall semester to complete his degree and I am so proud of him for working towards his goals. With his classes about to begin I realized that I really missed class. I love learning, taking notes, and having intelligent conversations with my peers. I missed all of it. “So why don’t you go back to school then?” Matthew asked me. For photography I already have a degree and a Master’s is not essential or even financially a good idea at this time. But for me, I have always wanted to learn French. I have tried books, CDs, phone apps, and computer games with limited success. I can understand French and even read it to a degree, but I can hardly utter a word of it and cannot even imagine trying to hold a conversation at this point. I feel that the best way for me to learn is to learn actively in an environment with a fluent French speaker. For me, the best way for me to learn (besides memorizing by reading) is to interact with what I want to learn more about.
So tonight after work I will join our local French-English Alliance chapter in Southbury and I intend to take real lessens this year.
No matter how you felt about school as a kid, humans do love to learn. The secret is that we love learning about things that we are interested in and passionate about. If you don’t like something or are not open to it, then learning about it is not going to be any fun. I have always wanted to be fluent in French. My family ancestry is mostly French and sadly, the language was lost to the majority of my family a couple generations back, except for a few distant cousins. I want to reclaim my ancestor’s language as my own again. I have a motivation to learn.
What are you passionate about? Is there something you have always wanted to know more about or how to do? Today I challenge you to think about learning differently. Instead of picturing a typical school classroom or university, I want you to think a bout how you can learn more about something you are passionate about. How can you achieve that goal without college or a diploma? Can you go to night school? Ask a friend for lessons? Trade skill knowledge with an acquaintance? Apply for an internship or apprenticeship? Join a club or team? I hope that this “school year” that you rise up to the challenge of learning something that you have always wanted to.
