less personal curriculums, more journeys
One of the trends that has been around since last year has all the makings of a perfect fit for me: creating a personal curriculum. Delving into a topic of interest of my own accord? Selecting and studying relevant materials? Seeking out discussions on the subject and broadening my perspective? Honestly, it’s a dream.
However, there is one small detail holding me back from fully diving into this process: the lack of flexibility.
I know, I know... what a weird thing to say about something that you choose to do for and by yourself. It just happens that my brain gets stuck on the bit called "timeline" where a curriculum is supposed to have clear start and stopping points. My brain rebels at the idea of boxing myself into a month or three or six--or even a full year--so I can learn something. I already did that for years and am sick of it lol My brain doesn't want to follow a schedule. It wants to be free (to learn) ~
Now... when I try to think of this as a journey? Hm.
A journey does give me the sense of freedom that I need when I want to learn something. Find a subject of interest? Go research about it. Come across a cool material related to it? Bookmark or look into acquiring it. Find a cool movie that deals with it? Watch it. Got tired and want to take a break? Do it and come back later. Didn't get tired, but went into an unexpected direction when something else caught your attention? Run after it!
It's more about chasing your interests and learning cool stuff than it is... I don't know, some sort of performance about being an academic. Academia is actual hell and I don't want to go back to it. Being able to jump around from topic to topic seems so much more fun, personally, than giving myself a syllabus.
Be free! Feed your hunger for knowledge in the messiest way! I think I'm going to go do that, actually.