I have a Bachelor's Degree. A BA in Psych with a minor in Soc. Many people "ooh" and "ahh" when I say that I graduated from college when I was 20; that I did a four-year degree at a liberal arts college in three years. But, in going through my life, I didn't learn most of what I know in college. I have learned more in the last two years than I did in all three years of earning my BA.
In a chapter on education in Father Fiction, Donald Miller refers to a teacher of his who stated that if we are coasting, we are moving downhill. I can see that. In college and a couple years afterwards, I went on autopilot mode, I began to coast. And then, when I realized what was going on, it was too late. I had already crashed, rock bottom. Now, I make an effort to continually think, write, analyze, read, etc. in effort to minimize that coasting.
In the book, Donald writes this and I believe it may be worthy of a wall hanging as well:
"If we aren't learning, we are forgetting; if we aren't getting smart, we are becoming dull."
It's like a knife, as you use it, you wear it down. Then, at some point, it becomes so dull that you can barely function with it. You need to continually sharpen it in order to keep it functional.
Life is a process of learning. You never quit. But if you don't actively choose to continue learning, not necessarily through formal education, but just learning, growing, developing, moving forward....if you don't actively choose to do that, you will wear down. You will become dull and start to coast, go on autopilot, hit a standstill. And, like I mentioned here, that's not a good thing.
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