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Learning to Recognize and Embrace Knowing What You Don’t Know
Recognizing and acknowledging knowing what you don’t know is incredibly freeing.
I love to learn.
One of the things that keeps me optimistic overall is that I know that there is always something new to be learned. More information to be found. New ideas to experience.
Yes, there are things that I could learn that have I zero interest in. There are things that I’m happy to have just passing knowledge of.
For most of my life, I have loved the sense of control I get from knowing something. Even if it’s limited, having knowledge feels empowering.
Not knowing something, not being in the know feels disempowering. Then, just to emphasize that, lots of messages we receive regularly are all about this. You don’t know? What’s wrong with you? How are you unaware of that?
This can be used and abused for good and bad. Depending on how it’s employed, the idea of not knowing is often used to control others and sway their opinions.
I used to fall into this trap a lot. And I would get frustrated by the things I didn’t know. But as I continue to learn — I’ve been repeatedly coming upon the same theme.
