Curious about curiosity

So on a whim I opened a file on my computer because I forgot what it was and it had the word “curiosity” in the file name, and so, I was curious (irony not lost on me).

In the file I found a fairly gorgeous description of planning to engage more fully in a curious life. And how much did I ACTUALLY follow that plan?

None.

Well, not none, exactly, but definitely not in the daily exercise that I had stated. I did a lot of thinking about curiosity and a lot of wanting to explore curiosity more without actually going and doing anything.

I’m curious about curiosity. How it will impact my life; how it improves and changes and adjusts the mental, spiritual, emotional, physical parts of life. I believe it will have an impact on feeling happier, more grounded, and more satisfied. For a fairly simple (maybe) mindset change, an impact my present and my future.

One thing I DON’T want in my future is to utter the words “same-old, same-old,” or “you know, just working,” or whatever generic phrase with which people respond when catching up with an old friend (or colleague, or student, or family member, or…)

The idea of being “same-old” terrifies me.

I felt like sometimes my life trajectory was headed that way.

A couple years ago, it might have been. That’s when I decided to try getting into e-commerce, which really wasn’t for me. Glad I did it – I learned more in that endeavor than I could ever learn taking a class – but in the end, I felt flat, deflated, and frustrated with all the things it required. Not that it was requiring too much, but that it was requiring the wrong things for me.

Throughout this process I did a lot of learning. I’ve read more non-fiction, factual, conceptual books in the last 18 months than I’ve probably read the first 30-some years of my life. And I LOVED it. I loved learning about the different aspects of business. I just didn’t like having to figure out how to implement them into my own little idea of an online commerce site.

What I did realize during that time, is that I’m happiest when I’m CURIOUS about something.

Which should have been obvious, given how much I loved school. I love being surrounded by people learning, exploring, discovering. Around people being curious.*

So I started a little side blog, “Constantly Curious.” This is where you are now 😊

After all the readings I’d done, I felt impelled to start an associated Facebook page, and so Constantly Curious was born.

A bit posting and, in all honesty, a bit of luck, 1,000 people have liked the page. A thousand people who express interest in being constantly curious.

So what does being constantly curious actually look like? My intention for 2019 is to cultivate curiosity. My subsequent goal is to share with others what I’ve done and encourage them to pursue a curious life.

First things first, I’m going to find my list of 40-odd ways to be curious, print it out and post it where I can see it. (I'll share this with you shortly! It just needs a tiny bit of tweaking!) Then, take these things into my daily practices, rituals, habits, sequences, or any other way I can manage to cultivate a curious outlook.

Because you won’t hear me saying life is the “same-old, same-old” when you ask me how I’m doing.

*Disclaimer: I know for many people this was not the experience they had in school. As a current teacher, please accept my apology for anyone who negatively impacted your experience in school.