Many of us describe ourselves by applying labels that shape our identity. Someone says, “I’m a musician”, and this behavior gives them a sense of belonging, feeling connected to a group. Others prefer to describe themselves by their characteristics, hobbies, or lifestyle—such as vegetarians, extroverts, gamers, or easygoing people. Each label indicates a set of habits.
Zygmunt Bauman, a sociologist who described the world from a fascinating perspective, says that we live in liquid modernity, in which everything changes quickly and nothing is made to last. Every day, new content is created and knowledge grows fast. Yuval Harari, the author of Homo Deus, states that we are the first generation that does not know what to teach future generations.
Maybe it is time for more of us to define ourselves as lifelong learners. A lifelong learner is someone who invests time, energy, and money to keep learning new things, even when learning something that is not instantly useful. A lifelong learner is like the self-made man sculpted by the artist Bobbie Carlyle, highlighting that everybody is constantly “under construction”. In other words, there is always something to improve.
Every weekend I spend hours reading books and papers or taking courses. Doing it this way makes me feel good, and consequently, I work better. Sometimes, the things I learn do not directly impact my job, but I do not mind.
As Bauman and Harari suggest, the world is changing faster than ever before. We need more lifelong learners to keep things moving forward. Let’s improve ourselves, being self-made people. I’m proud to say, “I’m a lifelong learner”.
