On not giving up
Lets get this out of the way first. I have so many interests.
I quite literally have a countably infinite number of interests, since the moment I learn about the existence of something, I become somewhat invested in learning about it. This might genuinely be a problem of mine, as it pairs terribly with my time management skills, but it is something that I’ve always had.
I’m interested in biology, physics, and chemistry. To many of the people I know, this is already a bizzare combination. Within the Olympiad community, basically a group of people who like to solve stupidly difficult problems, the vast majority of people pick a single subject to focus on. For example, many people do only the biology olympiad (USABO), or only the chemistry olympiad (USNCO), or only the physics olympiad (USAPhO). Its also not uncommon to see some pairs, like biology and chemistry, or physics and math. Despite that, its really quite rare to see somebody truly devote themselves to all three at once.
However, I’ve quite literally spent nearly six years focusing on all three of these olympiads. I started with USABO, then moved on to USAPhO, then moved to USNCO. My interests basically flip every few years.
I’m also interested in mountain biking, tea ceremony, woodworking, hiking, hobby electronics, rock collection, language learning, piano playing, and more. I quite literally can not list all the things I’m interested in.
This is also the reason why I call myself an “Aspiring Polymath”. A polymath is somebody who is excellent in several different subjects, which is something that I really quite admire. Honestly, I dont think I’m anywhere near my goal of becoming a “polymath”, which leads me to my next point.
It’s really damn hard.
Yeah, I’m no genius. I literally have just as hard of a time learning new things as every single other person you know. I say this, because I think its often understated just how damn hard it is to learn something new. Not only that, but its even harder to always be learning something new. You’re basically perpetually in a state of utter confusion and ignorance.
It’s super hard man.
I don’t think learning things has ever actually been easy for me. I slashed my leg open trying to do some mountain biking tricks, I failed so many freakin exams and typically went several days without getting a single practice problem right, back when I was studying for olympiads. Imagine sitting down to study, knowing that you got literally 50/50 of the problems you did so far incorrect. Now imagine doing that for months at a time. Yeah, its super freaking hard to learn new things.
But I still love to learn new things. What gives?
Well, for one, I failed so much that I swear I’ve not only grown comfortable with failing and falling on my face, but I’ve grown to hug failure like a friend. I’ve gotten so close with failure that I’ve met her parents and been married for seventeen years already. When I learn something new, I dont even stop to think for a second that I wont meet good ol’ failure again. I dont like to learn new things because its easy, I like to learn new things for the sake of learning new things.
Additionally, there are so many things in the world to learn. You dont know anything about the thousands of different cultures, languages and foods in the world. You don’t know anything about just how complex seemingly simple things like rain, color, rocks, and more, can get. Whats absolutely bizzare to me, is how pretty much every single subject or topic you could possibly want to learn in life, has at least one poor soul who dedicated their life to the study of the matter. In Japan for example, the entire process of wiping the floor down is a meticulous cultural tradition.
You only get one life on this earth as you, whether you believe in reincarnation or not. You have a limited number of days on this earth. The moment you leave, you will never, and I mean NEVER, experience the world as you again. Dont squander your one chance to learn everything there is about this world. At least thats what I think.
I truly think that learning new things not only keeps your mind sharp, but it helps you make better decisions. It makes you into a better person.
Because of this, the pain of failing and falling flat on my face every single day is worth it. Its worth it to constantly be in a state of unknowing and confusion, because you’re actively in the process of learning new thing about the world. Things that you didn’t know yesterday, but you know today.
I genuinely believe that actively pursuing new things to learn, academic or not, is one part of having a happy and fulfilling life.
The whole world is your oyster. If you can accept the price of being aware of your own ignorance, then you can truly have whatever you want in this world.
Dont give up, be stubborn as hell, dont stop doing what you’re interested in. You might be doing it utterly wrong, in which case, take a step back and try a new appraoch, but sure as hell dont give up. The moment you give up on what you love, is when you let the cosmos know the weakness of your mind, something they’ll never let you live down. If you decide you arent interested in something anymore, still dont give up. Pick up something new, learn something new, dont even think about growing complacent with how little you know.