Learn something new this summer

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By Leila Kalmbach

Summertime: The word itself calls up visions of lazing by the pool with a light novel, eating popsicles for lunch — in other words, indulging in effortless fun. And while this sort of calming, relaxing activity is certainly important to our mental health, it’s important to balance that relaxation with more enriching activities. Summer is a great time to learn something new. Students are off school, and summer provides a rare opportunity for them to engage in self-paced and fully selfchosen learning. For those of us in the midst of a career, it’s easy to push aside new learning that’s not job related. But learning new things is a great way to propel ourselves out of the summertime blues, and, at least in Central Texas, a good excuse to stay indoors when the thermometer reaches triple digits. It may be daunting to imagine all that will have to go into learning something new. If your aim is to speak French, for instance, it’s easy to get discouraged by listening to two people speak French fluently and thinking about how much you don’t know. But you’ll never complete something that you never start. It’s important for us to take our education into our own hands rather than rely on what’s fed to us by school or work. After all, we know better than anyone else what interests us, what motivates us and what knowledge would benefit us. Think about what you really want to learn right now. It may be something that you want to learn for a specific purpose, like how to fix a bike so that you can go on long rides without worrying about having problems. Or maybe you want to learn something just for fun, like how to practice a new style of yoga. Whatever you want to learn, whatever the reason behind your interest, learning new things enriches us and expands our awareness of the world. Here are some tips to get started — and then to stick with it. - Set a goal. Figure out exactly what you want to learn, and be as specific as possible. Don’t decide, for instance, that you want to learn as much about yoga as you can; decide that you want to have completed yoga teacher training by a certain date, or decide that you want to take ten classes each in several types of yoga that are unfamiliar to you. - Break the task down into manageable chunks. Going back to the example of learning French, it’s daunting to think about having to learn an entire language, but it’s much easier to think about memorizing five new words a

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day. Again, make your mini goals as concrete as possible, focusing on measurable outcomes rather than subjective ones. - Do a little every day. Take notice of how little bits add up over time. Think about how much you’ve learned about yoga since you started practicing it. Each class that you’ve attended has built more and more on this knowledge. Now apply this to whatever you’re trying to learn, and you’ll see that if you accomplish a bit every day, you’ll make great progress — even if you only stick with it until the end of summer. - Find a time-eating habit to kick. Eliminate half an hour of TV a night. Boot yourself off the Internet after 6pm. Call a friend rather than writing a long e-mail. If you look closely at your habits, you’re sure to find places where you can make time to learn your new skill. - Remind yourself of a past accomplishment. If you start to get overwhelmed by all you’ll need to do to accomplish your goal, think back to times in the past that you’ve achieved something huge. Think of all the essays you had to write to graduate high school, college or graduate school. Think of a huge presentation you put together for work. Remind yourself that you can do this, step by step. - Take a class. In some cases, taking a class is the best way to learn something new. Other times, it’s a great way to stay motivated when you’re not sure self-motivation would see you through. It can also be a good way to meet new people who share your interests. You might also consider going on a yoga retreat or taking a workshop on meditation. Allow yourself to be OK with feeling intimidated by learning something new. The world is a huge place, and the amount of knowledge it contains is mind-boggling. When we learn something new, we expand our awareness of the world we inhabit, and of ourselves as well. It can be humbling to learn new things, and to realize in the process just how much we don’t know. It’s OK not to know everything, but it’s great to want to know more. Though learning new things can be daunting, it is also immeasurably rewarding. One thing is for sure: You will never hear anyone say, “I wish I’d watched every episode of Seinfeld — again — instead of learning how to cook great Cajun food.” Get started today. Good luck — or, as the French say, Bonne chance.

About the author: Leila Kalmbach is an Austin-based freelance writer and editor who is currently spending the year in Australia. Leila grew up in Austin and graduated from Reed College in Portland, Oregon. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, hiking and spending time around the water. Contact her by e-mailing eye.for.ink@gmail.com or visit http://www.eyeforink.com/ for more information.