Oct 24, 2023

we're not studying for fun

It is so sad that we do not study for fun, to learn, but to score marks in our exams, compete and get a job. Is this what we were made for?

It is so sad that we do not study for fun, to learn, but to score marks in our exams, compete and get a job. Is this what we were made for?
When’s the last time that you actually sat down to study, not because you had exams to prepare for, but because you actually liked it?

why goals are slowing us down #

I have noticed that we perform better, when we don’t have a goal and just do things because we like it. But nowadays, we’re becoming mindless as if part of a hive mind.

Blinded by the expectations, the environment and influenced by the “ideal” life that is passed on by the society, we have stopped pondering the truths about this world, about why things happen as the way they do, and why can’t we do things that we like. We don’t read for passion, for knowledge, for gaining a vision. We read it because we have to and get some good scores.

We're simply sucking the fun out of it. We have made our life a Kafkaesque story.

“Intellectual adventures turn into intellectual labour.”
- Robin Waldun

spite and us #

Remind yourself of the time when you sought out to clean your room, but then your parent comes and asks you to do it. Then what happens? Out of spite, we don’t clean our room.

What I am trying to say in this post is similar. But in our case, we don’t deliberately refuse to do the thing. We do it, and get much less satisfaction out of it, and reduce our potential productiveness. But what if, what if we didn’t have a particular goal in mind, no external interference distorting the transmission to ourselves? Could we have succeeded far more than we do now?

What if, we actually loved our work or study, but we don’t know that because we lived our whole life this way. How could we have known that things could be any different? We are taught things merely for scoring in exams, and we are not shown the bigger picture. No wonder we suffer from identity crisis. ^235d26

If you love doing the thing, you are going to excel at it either way. Let’s make sure you do that.

“this is too unrealistic.” #

For the most part, I agree that it is idealistic. But why can’t we stop for a moment and think why we’re actually doing the thing. Why we are studying? Is it because we need to get a job? But are we enjoying the process? Are we getting something out of it? Shouldn’t our prime goal be to become a good human?

But, you can’t love everything and every subject which you are supposed to study. Then what do you do? Do you just give up if you don’t like it? Well, I might contradict my own opinion here, but,

"Don't seek for everything to happen as you wish it would, but rather wish that everything happens as it actually will- then your life will flow well."

-Epictetus, Enchiridion.

You can’t always get everything. I know because I have to do things that I don’t want to do too. But then how are you actually going to endure? By searching for something, some aspect of that particular topic and embracing it. Loving that very bit and being grateful for the knowledge that you gain by it.

That’s the point, isn’t it? Gaining knowledge and grow? (Also, this might help)

making the best out of it. #

Apart from everything, our main motive should be to make the best out of it. Human life is trivial, small and very, very brief. Why should we NOT take a moment for ourselves and learn.

There’s still time. Make sure you love the work you do, and don’t forget to gain something out of it and create something good.

Originally posted on Substack