LEARNING SOMETHING NEW


What is your opinion on learning?  Does just reading this title get you excited or make you want to vomit?  Personally, I think it matters what you are learning.  For instance, I remember learning to snow ski as a teenager.  I knew how to water ski, but our youth group was taking a snow skiing trip and I wanted to go so thought it would be fun.  I looked forward to the challenge and though it took me a while to get my “snow-ski-legs” I finally did – and I LOVED it!
I am a lover of science and history.  Biography of a historic figure?  Give it to me.  New discovery in space?  Tell me more!  Anything and everything scientific or historical is good.  I love it all.  (I will now happily accept my nerd awards.  Thank you.)

I LOVE music.  Classical, oldie, country, or pop?  Really doesn’t matter to me.  A new song on the radio with a catchy beat is my kryptonite.   I will listen to it until I know every word and nuance.  (Don’t worry…I stick to the tune only….well usually….dance routines are purely optional.)

But what about experience based learning?
I loved teaching all 10 years I was in the classroom, but my first year there were lots of lessons I wasn’t counting on learning.  I was excited to be in the classroom and put into practice all the “stuff” 4 years of college taught me.  I don’t think I even made it past 1st hour before I realized that experience was gonna teach me a heck of a lot more than any college professor did!  My whole first year of teaching was one learning experience after another.  It was both exciting and exhausting.  I was thankful for all I learned from it, but I was also thankful that I didn’t have to repeat it again!  The rest of my “teaching years” I was able to build on my experience and knowledge.  I think you could even say I achieved a bit of “expert” status by the time I quit to be a stay at home mom.  I had routines and systems that made everything flow smoothly…but all of those systems and processes took years to perfect.
So, now here I am a full time Pumper’s Wife.  New customers.  New Computer systems.  New networks.  New processes.  New EVERYTHING.  And you know what?  It frustrates me because I know nothing but time and experience will get me what I need to know…you can’t speed that up no matter what you do.   
Now here I sit in my quandary…how can I speed up my years of experience without aging myself?  (I used to just think I had to figure out how not to age….now I have to figure out that AND gain experience????  UGH…nothing like an unachievable challenge to get a girl up in the morning!!)
I ask again, how do you approach learning and gaining experience?  (Feel free to post any anti-aging advice as well...)

 'Til we meet again folks!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You are what you read? Really?

Image
Do you agree with this statement?   “You are what you read.”   Prior to being a Pumper’s Wife I would have never really given this statement much thought…but now I can’t help but take it literally!!   You are what you read…if you read about fashion, you’re fashionable.   If you read about cooking, you’re a cook.   If you read about dogs you’re a…wait.   Let’s come back to this in a minute… When I taught science, I loved to read about the latest scientific discoveries…I still do.   I kinda think once a science teacher, always a science teacher…but I digress.     The age of the internet made reading these articles so easy.   As my students’ parents got to know me better, they would find great discoveries to share with me as well.   I especially liked reading anything relating to space or the oceans.   Though I am removed from the classroom now, I still have parents (and former students) who share articles they think I might ...
Read more

WINTER TIME AND SEPTIC TANK PUMPING

Image
It's that time of year that our family loves -- cool crisp fall days, deer season, sweatshirts, campfires, Thanksgiving...bring on the pumpkin spice too! But winter is coming... So does that mean we can't pump septic systems?  Well, not really.  In fact, many people like to have their tanks pumped in the fall and winter months because we don't screw up their grass since most of it is dormant at this point.   Whenever we pump tanks -- no matter what time of year it is -- our issues are the same, gaining access.  If the tank is too far from a driveway or road and we have to drive in a field, yard, pasture, etc, we have to be careful of the weather.  In the spring and summer, we have to be careful of rain.  (Well, we had to be careful of rain any year prior to this year...still wondering if rain has just decided to bypass the state for good...)  In the winter months, we have to be careful of snow and ice.  There is also that issue that some tanks hav...
Read more

HITTING BLESSINGS "OUT OF THE PARK"

Image
Based on what I have written about in recent posts, I am guessing you can probably figure out two things about our family and business.  One, we like baseball.  Two, our area has been getting an excessive amount of rain.  (After seeing some video of the flooding in Texas, I can’t complain – I feel so very badly for those folks! We haven’t had near that amount in terms of rain!  My prayers are going out to those people.  Here in Nebraska, we aren’t currently flooded, but we are plenty wet and don’t seem to be drying out any time soon according to the weather reports!)  I saw this on Facebook the other day and almost peed my pants from laughing! I keep telling Jason I feel like we need to start building our own ark….either that or take up rice farming, but I digress… The rain has kept us very busy and though our business doesn’t advertise 24 hour service, there have been many nights and weekends spent working to help people who might be experien...
Read more