Why Do I Have to Learn This?

I see the arts get funding cuts or just altogether not be valued by society and I find that very discouraging. I think nature/gardening, poetry, paintings, etc fuel the “practical” things like math and science because they help you to dream of what to do with the practical things. What good is an equation or a fact if you don’t have the imagination to dream of all the positive things you could do with the equation or fact?

Kids, and adults as well, always ask, “Why do I have to learn this?” Because these seemingly boring things are what can make your imagination come true, that is why. We need both, the “essential” and the “nonessential” learning opportunities.

And beyond school subjects, we all often ask within ourselves, “Why do I have to learn this?” about life lessons as well. Why does my heart have to be so broken? Why did that difficult season have to be so exceedingly difficult? Why do I have go through this hardship so alone and with so little support?

Because the “nonessential” qualities of your personhood need to learn also. You can perform, you can do everything you are “supposed to” do, you can achieve a million things on your To Do list, but does that help your heart to learn how to grow and to mature and perhaps experience the same day to day life you have always lived but in continually new ways? Sometimes pain is a very skillful teacher that can elevate your consciousness of life far more than your old life’s happy thoughts ever could.

You need to learn the stuff you don’t want to learn because it always comes around to benefit you in understanding the things you do want to learn. Learning the difficult things builds you as a person in ways that easy things never could. There is an end to the suffering and there will be a path forward that includes you being a more extraordinary person than ever. You’ve got this!

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This Post is republished on Medium.