Curiosity killed the cat. Humans are so strange. We create these odd phrases of our language, and then they take on a meaning of their own. I was so curious about this phrase, that I spent at least 15 minutes researching the origin. What’s that say about me?
I’m curious, always have been. When someone told me “how things were,” I was the kid that would always ask “why.” This is why I didn’t join the military, i’d be a terrible soldier as i’m not great at being told what to do without a rational (in my mind), answer.
You can imagine how potentially frustrating this was to many of my teachers and coaches over the years… or at least to those who couldn’t be bothered with dissecting the reasoning behind decisions.
Curiosity seems to be a dying virtue. Instead of being curious, school and society has taught us all to be good little worker bees, to not question the mainstream narrative that everyone should go to college, or this rendition of it (that will be another blog post), and that instead of curious, we should just practice endless amounts of escapism using social media, media, and other forms of detaching from the world around us.
Lack of curiosity about how other people think, how they feel, and how our actions will impact them leads to horrendous outcomes. Wars, infidelity, greed, etc.
And unfortunately, our education system as a system, not individual teachers, programs us to lack curiosity and creativity and rather to not ask questions, to do what we are told, to put our head down and work, to only study what’s on the test.
Being curious is a skill, you can cultivate it, some are born with a genuine curiosity and others will have to learn it and lean into it as your environment growing up and into adulthood likely didn’t foster creativity.
A simple way to actively practice curiosity is to start asking questions about the mundane around you. I wonder how this water heater works? Where do the raw materials from the seat in my car come from? If I were to start a business, what are the skills needed to help make that successful?
Practice curiosity daily, Allow yourself to daydream. But don’t forget, get back to work ;).