One of my favorite things is to learn.  This may sound highly evolved and proud of me, but I assure you that it is a curse. Most days my craving to understand is merely a stimulating distraction that keeps me from doing the things that I’m supposed to be doing. 

For example, earlier today I was writing about an experience I had while living in Rapid City.  When I wanted to make a comment about Native Americans/American Indians/First Nations People, I paused.  I didn’t know the appropriate phrase to refer to them.  I had always leaned toward Native Americans, but my father in law once told me that one of his workers who is an Indian said that he and his people prefer the word “Indian”. 

So at this moment, I paused my writing and searched the internet.  As I had suspected, there is no consensus and really, I should use the specific name of the nation (Navajo, Sioux, Chinook, Apache, etc.) if I know to which one the individuals belong.  In Canada the acceptable term is First Nations, unless you’re referring to Inuit and Metis people, who don’t fall under that category.  From there I was curious about the Inuit and Metis, and after learning who they are I went further down the rabbit hole reading about the Eskimo–Aleut languages, the Aleut language branch, why it is critically endangered, social political forces that have contributed to its decline and so on.  I had to pull myself away, take a walk around the apartment, and come back to writing. 

I noticed an interesting phenomenon when I first began teaching biology at Portland Community College – I really enjoyed reading the textbook.  The fact that I liked biology was not surprising, as it is the field I chose to focus on during higher education.  What was surprising was the fact that reading the textbooks was stressful, sometimes dreadful while I was in college.  There was so much information, so much pressure, so little time.  Yet now, I was full on enjoying it, even if I was in a time crunch to prepare a lecture or an assignment. 

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The major distinction was that I now knew close to 90 percent of the material I was reading about.  I had a strong grid of knowledge and information.  As I read, the new information mostly consisted of unknown to me examples, novel way to explain a concept, or interesting graphics. 

The sweet spot in learning is when it is not so easy that it is boring, but not so difficult that you feel overwhelmed.  With only 10 – 20% of new, or difficult to understand information, I can stay engaged indefinitely. 

I try to use this concept when I teach – gradually layering on new information, in a way that is engaging to the students who have chosen a class of appropriate difficulty. 

My problem is that learning is often an excuse for not actually doing anything.  Learning about how to write well is nice and can be useful.  However, I will never become a better writer if I’m not consistently writing.  Reading about how to learn a new language will not result in me learning the language.  It is consistent practice that results in acquiring a new skill or putting out a new, useful product.  A person who knows everything there is to know in the biology field is impressive but they are not very useful if they are not conducting new research, working on cures or environmental crisis solutions, writing a book, developing a curriculum, teaching, etc. 

Learning for learning’s sake is nice.  I enjoy it as much as I enjoy an entertaining book or a movie.  It’s fun.  It’s also selfish.  For the sake of an argument, I’ll say “so what if it’s selfish?  I’m allowed to do things for myself, aren’t I?  It’s not hurting anyone.”  However, in the last couple of years I realized that the problem for me is that without taking the time to practice a skill, focus on a certain topic, or develop an idea, I just feel useless. 

Thus this writing challenge.