Recently I was writing an essay for a scholarship. The prompt given to me was "What inspires to learn most in life and why?" and I believe it is a great question to ask. For a while, I sat there wondering what did inspire me and why I kept going with any form of education. Now that I've had to think about it, I believe that everyone needs one thing that inspires them, and curiosity is mine.
The curiosity that is buried deep inside me must be what inspires me most. Every day I find myself constantly asking questions. These questions range from "How does a light bulb work?" to "What would the world be like without poverty?" This curiosity overwhelms my life but in a good way. This trait of mine pushes me to be the best me I can strive for. Without it, I wouldn't be learning as much as I am.
It's hard to think of one single thing that can inspire a person, but with choosing curiosity, it branches out into most aspects of my life. I like to think that nature is very inspiring, and it is. If you look at a flower, they just bloom without a care in the world Why can't humans be like that? What kind of traits do these flowers have that we don't? How can I strive to be more like the flower and just bloom instead of letting the obstacles of life get in the way?
The questions I find myself asking move at different paces. Some stay in my head, forcing me to do my research and figure out the answers. While some of them are only on my mind for a few moments before I move onto bigger and better questions to be asking. One minute I'll be thinking about plants and the way they bloom, and then I'll go on to ask questions about their pigmentation and how they become the colors that they are. Soon later, I find myself asking the same question, but relating it to everyday humans. Within thirty minutes I will know exactly what makes our skin colors different shades and I'll begin to question other ethnicity and cultures around the world.
My curiosity fuels my learning process, and sometimes it is useful. During classes, I find myself sitting there listening to the professors as they go about their lecture. Yet I'm not always learning what I need to know, and that's when I begin to ask questions. It's easy to memorize the basic facts and know how things work, but do you really know how they work? It's like knowing how to sow a sewing machine, but not knowing how it works. you may know every step, from start to finish, but do you know what makes the needle move and what every single button on the machine does exactly? Chances are that not everyone does. To be honest, even I didn't, but as I began writing this and decided to use that example, I did some research on the topic to figure it out.
My curiosity inspires me to learn as much as I can and to give back as much as I can. Times can get tough, so it's easy to find out ways to make life easier, When you ask questions, it's so easy to find ways to save money, or even help save the world. When I think about light bulbs, I ask the basic questions like how they work. Then, I begin to wonder what they're costing me and the environment. You would be surprised at the amount of money it costs to use lights. With constantly using lights and electricity to see, it also begins to wear on the environment. As I learned more about how light bulbs worked, it inspired me to switch to L.E.D light bulbs. If I had been using incandescent light bulbs and switch to L.E.D light bulbs, I would save around $112 a year. With that, the number of light bulbs I would use over a lifetime for one light would be three rather than 145. Just think of all the waste you just saved and what that can do to the environment. I never would've switched to be more cost efficient if I hadn't been inspired to learn about lights.
With thoughts like these everyday, it has inspired me to up-cycle old and used clothes into something new to be worn again rather than be thrown out. I have been able to save hundreds of dollars on everyday products that you might not think is able to save money on. Altogether, these thoughts have pushed me to be a better person with wild thoughts who gets projects done and tries to save the world. By asking the right questions, curiosity can inspire you to do just about anything if you set your mind to it.
This is how my curiosity drives me to learn. I encourage you to get out there and start asking more and more questions.
