A woman I know (I'll call her Cindy) is between jobs and looking for something new. She's not sure what. The other day Cindy and I were chatting and I asked if she had ever considered going back to school.
She gave me the Survivorman face and sneered, "Why?"
I fumbled for an answer. "Well, what are you interested in? Maybe you could learn a new skill and pursue a new career."
"I'm not really interested in anything," she said.
Her response stunned me. If I were independently wealthy, I would, in between traveling around the world, volunteer part-time at Legal Aid and spend the rest of my life as a student. I'd take literature courses, political science courses, learn how to paint, learn how to work with wood, learn languages, go to culinary school. I can't imagine a more ideal existence. The thought of someone having no desire to learn anything new makes me sad.
I heard somewhere once that happiness is best defined as the pursuit of attainable goals. I googled it but didn't find anything that triggered any memories, so it's probably from a movie I saw. Anyway, that makes sense to me. I'm at my happiest when I'm learning something or trying something challenging or looking forward to something.
So I've decided to learn Italian.
I've been feeling kind of blah and stagnant lately, but my neighbor gave me a couple of Rosetta Stone discs with about 15 different languages on them. I love the way Italian sounds (plus I could follow Italian opera without the supertitles), so I started working my way through the lessons, about 45 minutes a day. I now know a bunch of nouns and verbs and adjectives, and can put rudimentary sentences together. I walk into Zeke's room in the morning and say, "buon giorno, bambino!" If I'm outside and I see a bird in the sky, I think to myself, "l'uccello sta volando."
I'm having a blast.
When I'm done with Italian, maybe I'll tackle French.
Oh, I totally agree with you. Learning new things is fantastico (that's all I know in Italian). Even the idea of being on a college/university campus, surrounded by others there to learn all sorts of things, makes me happy. Have fun learning new languages!
ReplyDeletePeople who stop learning are ready to die, in my opinion. I can't imagine being that person, but I know several.
ReplyDeleteChick-fil-A gave away language CDs with their kids' meals a few weeks and we were fortunate enough to get Italian. I've been loving listening to it in the car with Brendan and hearing him repeat the phrases.
I think Italian seems like such a fun language.
I'm with you on that, seriously. If I had unlimited resources, I'd start with a masters in Art History, then maybe a law degree, then maybe learn to bake. Sooooo much fun....
ReplyDelete(I would not in fact suggest that you take up Norwegian...But it is good to know that one day when we are back in the States or somewhere else, I can actually lean over to Anthony and say "Oh no, do you think that the large hairy-like-a-grizzly man wearing the tiny red bikini is going to lie unnaturally close to me and possibly sweat in the general direction of me and my sweet sweet Portuguese beer.")
Is the fam back yet? We just got back and I want to visit!
love
e
I'm with you on that, seriously. If I had unlimited resources, I'd start with a masters in Art History, then maybe a law degree, then maybe learn to bake. Sooooo much fun....
ReplyDelete(I would not in fact suggest that you take up Norwegian...But it is good to know that one day when we are back in the States or somewhere else, I can actually lean over to Anthony and say "Oh no, do you think that the large hairy-like-a-grizzly man wearing the tiny red bikini is going to lie unnaturally close to me and possibly sweat in the general direction of me and my sweet sweet Portuguese beer.")
Is the fam back yet? We just got back and I want to visit!
love
e