End of the year reflections are predicable parts of December, but it’s amplified this year because it’s also the end of the decade. When you start to look at how you’re cruising through life in 10-year chunks, it can be at the same time fun, and terrifying. There’s where you thought you were going, where you actually went, and whether the inevitable difference matters.<\/p>\n
Some treat their path like the blue dot on a map app, incessantly looking, charting, gauging and worrying. Others just use The Force. I’ve used both metaphors over the last decade and here’s what I’ve found.<\/p>\n
Education never stops.<\/strong><\/p>\n I spent 40% of the previous decade earning a bachelor’s degree and 25% of this past decade earning a master’s degree. I’m probably finished working toward pieces of paper with fancy writing, but my desire to know stuff has never been stronger. (Except maybe when I was trying to figure out how to cast my fly farther than 15 feet.) The more I teach Science Fiction Literature, the more I am exposed to the results of an uneducated population. The more I know, the more I might feel we are destined to be endlessly mired in social unrest, political posturing and ominous pollution projections, but that doesn’t mean I have to be miserable and doesn’t mean everyone is unhappy. Social media can be a digital Two-Minutes Hate. But that’s not reality. Knowing that is a key to sanity.<\/p>\n Education doesn’t have to happen in the classroom either. Ten years ago, I didn’t hunt and had just started my freelance writing side-hustle. Writing about my outdoor education, particularly with hunting, has been a productive way to vent frustrations, share stupidity and maybe encourage someone else who knows what it feels like to not be one of those expert types.<\/p>\n