285. Why We Love Learning

:: 00:05

Hello and welcome to this episode of the Drink Less, Live Better podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I'm really glad you're here.

:: 00:15

Learning: why do I do it, and why do you do it? I have always been someone who enjoys learning. Actually, that's not true. Probably. During school I did not particularly enjoy all learning, and definitely by A-levels it was a non-starter. However, by the time I was lucky enough to get to university, I hit my stride, and that's where I found I loved learning about something I was really interested in.

:: 00:45

I like discovering something that I didn't know before. I'll happily disappear down a rabbit hole because I've become interested in something new. I enjoy ideas, books, podcasts, videos, conversations, courses, programs, and I love certificates, qualifications, and accreditations. Internal validation and external validation. Sometimes I learn something because it's useful, sometimes because it's completely irrelevant to anything I'm doing with my life, but I fancy it. And I've been thinking about why.

:: 01:23

Since finishing my counselling course, I have been trying to understand what need learning actually fulfills in me. I don't think it's about simply collecting some information. And for me, one part of it is curiosity or itchiness. There's something satisfying about discovering how something works, understanding an idea that previously felt complicated, or suddenly seeing a connection between two things. You have a question in your head, and then gradually, over time, the pieces begin to fit together. A little click of understanding is incredibly satisfying to me.

:: 02:05

Learning also gives me a sense of competence. There's something really nice about realizing that you can do something now that you couldn't do before. Maybe you've learned how to use a new piece of software, understand a complicated subject, cook something you've never attempted, speak a few words of another language, or understand yourself a little better. That is also good learning. You've expanded your capabilities. Competence gives us confidence. It reminds us that we are capable of developing and growing, not just while we are school age or teenagers, but all the way through life.

:: 02:46

And there's also something about autonomy. Knowledge giving you choices. The more you understand, the more independently you can think. You can question things. You can make informed choices. You can form your own opinions rather than simply accepting somebody else's version of the world.

:: 03:07

And perhaps one of the deepest needs learning fulfills is the need to make sense of the world around us. We are meaning-making creatures. We want to understand ourselves, and we want to understand other people. We want to understand why things happen and how things work. Sometimes learning gives us a framework for something we've experienced but never quite had words for. You read something and you think, "Oh yeah, that's me. That's true." Or you discover an idea that suddenly makes sense of a relationship, a behavior, a feeling, or a time in your life. And that kind of learning can change you.

:: 03:52

And learning also gives us novelty. There's something wonderfully expansive about discovering, that there's always been more to know. You can be 40, 50, 60, or 80 and still encounter an idea that completely rearranges the furniture in your mind. And I like that. And perhaps too, learning becomes a part of our identity. You become someone who is interested, someone who asks questions, someone who remains interested in the world. And I think there is something really nice about remaining teachable all of our lives.

:: 04:27

Does learning make you feel capable, curious, independent, connected? Does it help the world make more sense when some of it is so confusing? Once you understand the need underneath the behavior, you can begin to understand why certain things will bring you alive. And perhaps loving learning is one way of staying open to life itself. There will always be something you don't know, and that's a good piece of news, isn't it? And our learning can be formal, or it can be informal, and nobody needs to mark us on it.

:: 05:03

Thank you for being here with me today. You can find me online at drinklesslivebetter.com, where you'll also find lots of supportive resources. Check out today's podcast show notes for a link to a hidden episode that will help with your 5 p.m. cravings, and details about my one-to-one life coaching and sober coaching programs. And P.S. I believe in you.