I was thinking about how much I love to learn and how grateful I am for how incredibly easy it is for me to access information. But then I started thinking about a time when I actually hated learning. I hated high school when I was in it. I hated the monotony and that ground hog day feeling, the structure of classes and most importantly, forced to do or learn about something against my will. That being said, I do now think there is merit to schooling and if I could go back with the attitude I have now to learning, I would love it but I probably wouldn’t be the person I am today nor love being a student of life like I am now if it weren’t for my personal experience with school. But if I could advise my past self, I would.
As much as I have changed since I was a teenager, the one thing that has remained the same is trying to make every moment of life enjoyable, even the unenjoyable ones. How do you do that? Well first off, I will always advise to not be in such a situation if you can help it and if you can make a change, whether it being work or study, choose something you wholeheartedly enjoy or are passionate about. You only have one shot as this life and if you’re not enjoying most of your day, you’re honestly wasting it. Sure theres working towards an end goal but if you’re going to grind hard and long as something, make sure the result at the end is all worth it and will make your life feel complete. In a situation like high school however, we don’t really get a say in that. And that’s okay. Parent’s have to work, kid’s got nowhere to go and you gotta get a social life somehow. Plus there is benefit in exercising your brain muscles and if you look hard enough, there are actually some interesting things being taught although they may not seem interesting at the time.
So how do you pick your subjects? Sure you can pick the “bludge” subjects, but at the end of the day you’re still going to have to learn about these topics so my advice would be to go through the curriculums and pick any that you have even the slightest bit of interest in. Luckily for me, the bludge subjects just happened to be all the subjects I was interested in. I have always been more creatively inclined but even the “fun” subjects had boring theory attached. Which is why I say, pick something you have some sort of interest in, because you’re going to learn history and theory behind whichever you choose.
The secret to schooling is that its all just a memory test. So whether you enjoy it or not, pick subjects you have any interest in so its easier to pay attention and to remember when you get tested on it. So I was one of those people that would never study and still did okay in exams and that’s just one of two things: either the things being tested are pure common sense and you can come to a conclusion easily based on the information provided and just a little bit of effort. Or its just as easy as recollecting key memories of what was being taught in class.
Even with the subjects I was interested in, I feel like I didn’t utilise my time wisely or took full advantage of what was offered. But that’s life I guess, you don’t realise what you had until its gone. So my advice to my past self would be to replace the time sitting around listening to music and thinking about how badly I didn’t want to be there with using the facilities and supplies that were at my disposal. I completely took having rooms full of books, art supplies, wood machinery, sports equipment, instruments, etc. for granted. But when you’re young the last thing you’re thinking about is your future self wanting these things and having to make time for them and have money to spend on them. You also can’t predict how much you’d love certain hobbies and will continue them as an adult so you just gotta go through the motions with that one.
If I could, I would tell my high school self to read more. Because the amount of books I have on my read list now is upsetting to compare to how much free time I had going to and from school, in free periods, at the end of classes and during break times. And pick science for goodness sake, that shits interesting as hell. You just never gave it a shot.
Sigh…