Curiosity, exploration, adventure, inquisitiveness, experimentation - all lead to a massively interesting life filled with wonder and excitement. As long as you remain curious, you're never bored. I owe all of my adventures and love of learning to my undying curiosity.
I think I could go on and on about why I love and value my curiosity so much, but I’ll just start with these four benefits below.
Curiosity Creates a Lifetime of Learning
One of my favorite educators // thought-leaders in the realm of education and creativity, Sir Ken Robinson said, “If you can light the spark of curiosity in a child, they will learn without any further assistance.”
That’s right - curiosity leads to a lifetime of learning, seeking and inquisitiveness. When you’re curious, all kinds of doors and opportunities open up for you.
"I don’t have any special talents, I’m just passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
I think it’s rather ironic that Einstein claimed to not have any special talents - I mean, there’s a reason we call geniuses ‘Einsteins’ - he was beyond talented and intelligent. But he didn’t credit his skills or knowledge to intelligence, but rather gave all the credit to his curiosity.
He understood that curiosity was a better predictor for success than intelligence - because curiosity isn’t born out of a motivation to succeed or be smarter than everyone around you - it’s motivated by learning and makes the learning fun.
When we’re curious in our work, we experiment - try new things, test new ideas. Curiosity leads to innovation and invention and to problems being solved that we didn’t even know existed.
Curiosity Leads to Empathy
When you’re curious about a person, a people, a culture, a place - you want to know more about them, visit them, travel there and soak in their way of life. When you do that, you’re understanding expands and as your understanding expands your ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes grows. You feel what it’s like to be them, you can empathize with them and thus, curiosity also expands your compassion.
How could you treat someone or something badly when you’ve gone on a walk with them, when you’ve heard their life story, when you’ve shared a meal together?
Curiosity expands SO much in our minds, relationships and lives.
Curiosity Keeps Your Wonder Alive
Think about it, have you ever met someone that did things “just to see” or “just because”? Did you think they were crazy? Probably. Did you have fun? Did you find or do something you’ve never seen or experienced before? Absolutely!
Questioning what lies beyond our daily routine, our own culture, our home, our world leads to a lifetime of adventure. When you’re curious, you open your eyes to the environment around you, you observe what others pass by and you delight in mystery and the unknown - it excites you, which leads me to my next point…
Curiosity Keeps You Young
There’s nothing more exhausting than a bored adult with no imagination or zest for life. What happened to them? They lost their curiosity.
When you lose your curiosity you lose your excitement for life causing you to become bored and often depressed. Nothing ages a person faster than losing their hope, curiosity or excitement for life.
I’ve heard several times, so I’m not sure who to give the credit to, that curiosity is the opposite of depression. You can’t possibly be depressed and bored while being curious - it just isn’t possible.
Keeping your child-like wonder, asking questions, exploring mystery keeps your mind active and alive. Being open to learning new things and meeting new people leads to a rich and fulfilling life.
I think I value curiosity so much because I have it in spades. It’s why I want to travel the world, it’s why I’m an obsessive podcast listener and it’s why I just LOVE learning. I will always work to keep my curiosity alive and well because I want to live a healthy and fulfilled life. The more you exercise curiosity, the stronger it gets, the wider your world becomes and the more fulfilled you become.
Plus, it’s just plain fun.
Love & Blessings,
Genevieve
