Not Afraid To Learn

In life everyone learns through experience. The more we experience in life, the more we learn and accumulate. Here, I would like to share an experience, which helped me realize that if we remain scared to explore and learn new things, it will only lead to further ignorance. A year ago, I went to Nepal with my family to spend our winter vacation. During our stay there, I was expecting an important email but because of the change in my location I faced some difficulties in opening my gmail. It was unfortunate again that I forgot my password and I kept entering the wrong password. After trying frantically for few times, I decided to change my password but it did not work either; since the code to change the password was sent to the number which I use in India and hence I had no access to it since I was using a different SIM in Nepal. Sadly, I had to wait till I returned to India to change the password.  

All this time I was unaware that there are ways to recover our Gmail account by filling up a form online. All we have to do is follow the link and answer some questions that Google will throw at us. By the way, it is always a good idea to review what information we have INSERT IGNOREed in our Google security settings.  

I had to learn about this from a friend of mine who is 15 years younger than me. And the moment I learned about this, it didn’t seem so difficult. Most of us are scared of diving into the unknown, of uncertainty, of unfamiliarity, of not knowing what’s going to happen. We are scared that things could go wrong, that things will be uncomfortable, and that things might not go as expected. The day I experienced about Gmail I realized one thing, that it was rightly said by someone that learning is a continuous process and a true learner will always look for avenues to learn from anybody and everybody. There is no bar on a learner’s age or for that matter the age of the teacher. Even a young child can teach us something which we may have not learnt till now. Similarly, an old man or a poor man can teach us something very important in life.

We often come across people and hear them say; “I’m too old to learn” Should we believe in such sayings? I hope not.  

No matter what our age is, we can always start learning something. Teachers who adopt a lifelong learning mindset have access to information, and use it to collaborate with others. Learning teachers also view mistakes and challenges as part of the learning process rather than as failures. By embracing a student-like mindset and learning to turn self-education into a daily habit, we can sharpen our current skills and develop new ones while enriching our mind. Then, when the time to adapt arrives, transitions are less bumpy. And nowadays we have access to so much information through our computers that it is really easy to learn new stuff. So, age is no bar if one wants to learn. One learns about things through experience. People learn from their success, failure, achievement and disappointment in life. Learning is possible at every stage of life.  

Again, hesitation is also one of the massive barriers in our life to progress and hold us back to know the unknowns. Unfortunately, it can also hold us back. If we are stuck in our life, we probably need to realize that we need to stop hesitating and start acting. We need to let go of our perfectionism and set goals for our self and then only we can see change in our life. If our goals are vague, we are less likely to get things done. However, if our goals are specific and measurable, we are more likely to achieve it. So, we should remember that hesitation does not mean doing something, which has consequences of its own. We all hit moments in life when we feel helpless. The test is how we react to that feeling. We can either learn from it and move forward or let it drag us down.  

People with open mind set and positive attitude pursue their passions relentlessly. There is always going to be someone who is more naturally talented than us, but what we lack in talent can be made up through our passion.  

I would like to conclude by saying that regardless of our age, there is always room to expand our minds and explore the unknowns, follow our dreams keeping in mind that nothing is impossible.  

Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. The editors are Dr Hewasa Lorin, Nungchim Christopher, Seyiesilie Vupru, Vikono Krose and Kvulo Lorin. Portrait photographer: Rhilo Mero. For feedback or comments please email: dot@tetsocollege.org.