Many of us look fondly on our childhood, the carefree life where life’s greatest obstacle is whether or not your parents make you eat vegetables. If given the chance, many of us would jump headfirst at the opportunity to return to this simple time.
One of the aspects that I believe is essential to the childhood experience is curiosity. Which is why in this article I want to explore “How to Rediscover Curiosity” and what I believe to be the “Keys to Making Life Fun Again”.
I will be dividing this article into different sections, so feel free to skip around to different headings as you please. I would however recommend reading it chronologically, as I typically cover different important ideas in every section that I might refer back to.
Important Context: My Relationship With “Curiosity”
Growing up, I like most others, was fairly curious. I wouldn’t say my curiosity was anything exceptional, but nevertheless it was still there. I could go in-depth about every little thing that did and didn’t catch my eye, how I didn’t much care for the creepy crawlies, or how I adored hockey, but I’d much rather delve into my experience with schooling.
The reason why I believe evaluating my school experience is important, is because of my inherent belief that being curious can be quite beneficial in this environment. I for one, would not say that I was a very curious kid when I attended school and this would follow me all the way up to my eventual graduation of high-school in 2021.
I was more interested in doing whatever I thought was the most fun thing in the moment, this was especially strong when I was younger and would decrease as I got older. It’s quite funny how hedonistic we are as kids and unfortunately for some, they don’t grow out of this.
Looking back, I think it’s a great shame that I wasn’t more curious about topics in school. Not only because it would be beneficial for a career, but also because I’ve realized the great deal of fun that can be had while learning.
Some people would put the bulk of the blame on teachers and while I believe teachers play a crucial role in whether or not you find something interesting, it’s definitely only half the problem. Like I said, as kids, we are very hedonistic, meaning whatever we are learning needs to compete with what we believe to be the ultimate form of fun.
Surprising to none, math or sciences or whatever it may be, will lose ninety nine times out of a hundred against most things. This issue only gets significantly worse today, as entertainment is more optimized than ever for maximum dopamine release and maximum ease of dopamine release.
Back then, school topics would have to compete against me playing Zelda on my DS or me watching SpongeBob. Again, this is still a losing battle, but compared to now, I can’t even begin to imagine.
You can see the negative effects taking place today, many kids are unsurprisingly, not doing well in school and I think it’s fairly safe to say, they aren’t taking interest in school, meaning they aren’t curious about school. This just shows how important it is to have discussions alike this one today, although this article is more aimed at adults rediscovering curiosity, it definitely is still a helpful tool for parents with young kids trying to make them interested in what we would consider “more important” subjects.
Admittedly, while I believe this to be an important conversation, I’ve gotten a little sidetracked from the main idea. Fast-forwarding to today, I’ve obviously rediscovered or some might say, discovered, curiosity in the world in a way I hadn’t prior.
I’ve taken up hobbies like reading, researching (occasionally), playing video games still (but actually reading the dialogue), taking interest in philosophy and many other things. Had you told my past self that my future self would take on reading as a fun hobby, he would look at you funny and think you’re about as legitimate as all the other people who claimed to be time travelers.
Heck, you don’t even have to go back that far, you could go back to my grad year of high-school and do the same. So the question then is this “How did I discover my curiosity?” and “How can you discover yours?”.
The Keys to Making Life Fun Again
1) Have a Beginner Mindset: By having a beginners mindset, I mean realizing that there is a whole lot of things in the world to learn and discover. There’s been times, when stuck in a pessimistic mind-frame, that I become uninterested in the world.
In the moment, I thought it was the cold, hard truth, when in reality, I was being both pessimistic and arrogant. Even the most advanced people in scientific fields are still finding new things to discover, this is one of the great benefits in life or hard truths, depending on who you are, that we will likely never discover everything in this universe.
2) Find Joy in Small Discoveries: It’s easy to be drawn in by the “best” things in life, we always want to be the best, have the best, etc. Find joy in small discoveries, anything new that you learn could make you happy.
Another way to put this would be “setting the bar low”, so many of us needlessly set high bars. Do you really need to chase the discovery of a new species when there’s so much you don’t know about already discovered species?
3) Change Your Internal Dictionary: The easiest example of something a lot of people would benefit from “changing your internal dictionary” is the idea of learning. I understand why people don’t like school, how often do we enjoy activities that we are forced to do, with people we’re forced to be around, and times we are forced to attend.
Like I said, graduating high-school made me realize how much fun there can be in learning. Yeah sometimes it makes my brain hurt and I have to work a little harder to do it, but it’s also something useful, healthy and interesting.
It really does feel like the type of speech that would be delivered at one of my schools that I would shrug off. Don’t limit yourself by thinking that challenging things aren’t fun, recall the satisfaction of succeeding and as much as it sounds a bit selfish, you should do all of this for yourself, not because others say you should (I’m aware this is ironic, since I’m telling you what to do).
4) Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone: This is said a lot and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that if something is often said a lot, it likely has some merit. Stepping outside your comfort zone can lead to so much good, new friends, new experiences, new things learned, and on and on.
Is it true that bad things can happen? Yes, but everything in life has some sort of trade off, so many people on their death beds speak of all their regrets and often it has to do with things not done, instead of things done.
I should add a disclaimer that this philosophy is only applicable to those with a fairly okay-ish moral compass, please don’t do something reckless like meth while snowboarding.
5) Be Cautious of Dopamine Overload: Like I said before, we have the most optimized dopamine delivering systems ever and this is not a good thing. These devices often offer little benefit for us besides the dopamine, taking up large portions of time away from other ventures, lowering attention span (which is why reading is becoming hard for many), making other options seem less interesting, being completely unhealthy, and the list goes on.
Of course in this example I’m referring to TikTok or Reels or whatever your fix is, these apps I find to be very predatory. There’s a very clear reason why the TikTok CEO himself, won’t allow his kids to use it.
I think usage of these apps is pure garbage, I don’t say that as judgment to those who use them, as I still use them too often, but more as a diss to those who made them. I’d say delete these apps, run from them and never look back.
There are of course other forms of high dopamine as well, I won’t go over all of them, but my general advice is to be more cautious the more addicting something is to you. Some people use gaming and TV healthily, while others rot away on their couch or chair.
6) Be Okay not Knowing: It sounds a bit silly to say in an article about learning to enjoy discovery again, as it’s pretty obvious that you have to be okay not knowing. In this case I am more so telling you to once again change an internal definition of yours, far too many of us fear not knowing, looking stupid, feeling inadequate and all those other negative emotions.
I am a victim of this mentality as well, but please, don’t let the negative people that spew their insecurities on to others, do it to you. You didn’t choose the speed at which you learn, all you can do is try your best, if they want to be arrogant, let them.
Learning is a journey, it has ups and downs, it definitely is not a coast down hill (at least for most of us).
7) Surround Yourself With Curious People: Honestly, this is probably something you could say in any aspect of self-improvement, but replace “curious” with “nice” or “caring” or whatever else it may be.
Whether you like it or not, your environment influences you, this is why I talk a lot about changing your environment to help improve your odds of success. The people around you have a massive effect on you, so if you have toxic people in your life, you need to drop them.
Of course, really self evaluate first and make sure you aren’t that toxic person. Curiosity, just like anger and every other emotion, is contagious, especially when you are invested in the person.
Life is Awesome, Life is Awful
This is my conclusion, you probably read the heading and wondered what that is all about. It’s pretty simple, life is what you make of it, not just physically, but mentally.
If you have a determination, even if it’s subconsciously, to hate life, you will hate life, vice versa, if you have a determination to love life, you will love life.
What you put out is what you often receive, put out negativity and you’ll find negativity, put out positivity and you’ll receive positivity.
If you enjoy learning about topics like this, consider checking out my YouTube video below:
Besides that, If you enjoyed, I’d greatly appreciate anyone who likes and shares as it lets me know my articles are doing something, also let me know in the comments about your journey of rediscovering curiosity. Take care 🙂
Leave a Reply