By Dawn Onley

I’m a geek at heart. I love to learn new things.

I enjoy traveling to new places and trying new experiences, like that turtle soup I tasted in New Orleans or swimming with the stingrays in the Cayman Islands, or even that time I conquered my claustrophobia and climbed inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, which included a small and narrow passage I had to crawl, in a single-file line, for about 200 feet, with the ceiling just inches from my head, in the dark until I could stand upright inside the chamber. And then I had to brace to do it again in order to get out.

Whew! Once in a lifetime experiences bring out the kid in me.

I’m a whiz at searching for information. The only thing that halts my search is my desire to read just about everything I come across. “It’ll only take 5 minutes,” I tell myself each time. Thirty minutes later, I’m bookmarking the fabulous find, emailing it to friends, and/or saving it to one of my 92 Outlook folders. Before long, I’m repeating the search again and uncovering some more deliciousness to sink my nerdy brain into.

My insatiable, and sometimes exhausting, quest for knowledge helps fuel my love of life. My heart palpitates at all there is to discover, and learn, and be in the vastness of this world. Researching and reading helps me to learn all of the sides of an issue and to decide what feels right to me. I learn things about myself in the process.

It’s inconceivable to me that anyone would choose to stay boxed in a corner when there is so much of life to unearth. There is a great big ‘ole world out there just waiting for us to discover it. There is information that we need to know – so much information that holds value that could help steer us in the direction we need to go.

There are industries to discover, new revenue streams to unveil. There are books written by parents who are exactly where you are today with your child. There are scholarships to find, information on programs that offer assistance to aging relatives and veterans.

There is so much out there in the wide lexicon of information that a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to consume it all.

There is help for essentially anything we want to find, to get us to exactly where we need to be.

How can a person know what he or she could be good at, or what they might find fascinating, if they don’t try to learn about various things or engage in a variety of experiences? Can you imagine if Venus and Serena’s dad never took them out on the tennis court? In the crux of trying out a new sport, they discovered their natural born abilities!

    

Make it a point to learn something new today. Do something every day that scares you. Challenge your fears. Try new experiences. It keeps our minds engaged. It keeps us growing. Learning is life-changing.

Ride a camel, for crying out loud!