These past couple of weeks have flown by incredibly fast, and as I adjust back to school, I keep reminding myself to not fall into the trap of routine. There’s nothing wrong with having a routine, as it helps with creating stability, understanding what’s coming next, and providing a sort of grounding.
The danger arises when routines start to evolve into a boundary. Staying only with what one already knows limits the full potential of growth. It’s like only using a pencil while drawing, when one could use markers for intensely saturated lines, charcoal for dusty and fragile layers, and crayons for a thick, textured pigment.
Curiosity is humanity’s most special gift, an insatiable hunger that pushes one to explore the unknown, adapt to pressing challenges, and invent new tools. It isn’t about finding a perfect, single medium, but about understanding how a canvas was never supposed to be drawn with only one; the world is filled with different mediums one only needs to seek.
Children constantly ask questions. Somewhere along the transition into adulthood, society started to learn to suppress it, to stray away from this natural tendency. Instead, there is a prioritization over what is familiar, what is safe over what is interesting.
“Curiosity is humanity’s most special gift, an insatiable hunger that pushes one to explore the unknown,”
Today, being a beginner seems to hold rather a negative connotation. Asking “simple” questions, walking into a room full of strangers, trying something completely new, all became frightening. However, discovering what is truly meaningful for oneself becomes nearly impossible if one doesn’t allow themselves to encounter different experiences.
When will I ever be at this crossroads of life, surrounded by people from all walks of life, leading professors passionate about different endeavors, clubs of various kinds, in a city full of cultural enclaves and innovation? Every discovery starts with a simple question. Every new field arises from someone approaching a problem from a different angle. While I do dislike feeling awkward or uncomfortable in new surroundings, I realize that trying new things helps me understand what I truly derive happiness from.
I recently joined an intramural (IM) soccer team, and while I haven’t touched a soccer ball in years, I truly enjoyed meeting new people, getting some exercise, and seeing the beautiful sunset fall over the sky as our game ended. Even though the match ended 0-0, I left the field feeling fulfilled.Â
Especially in college, students, including me, often feel constrained to experiences or opportunities that lead to accomplishments: leadership roles, grades, internships, research. These all matter, but so do simpler experiences that hold the potential to expand us beyond the scope of professional enrichment.
“Even ‘simple’ experiences hold the potential to expand us beyond the scope of professional enrichment.”
A pencil will most certainly feel comfortable in the hands that always employ it, but if one never reaches for the charcoal, one would never understand what could have been added to the picture, even if the first couple of strokes might look uncanny.
Before the days go by too fast, I want to leave enough room in my day-to-day life to explore. To dive into the unfamiliar. To ask the “stupid” question. To converse with people I’ve never spoken to. Just maybe, the most enlightening parts of life are not the ones that derive from being planned out perfectly, but the ones someone was curious enough to discover.Â