I went to my niece’s 2nd ever Karate class and watched as she tried desperately to learn how to be a “ninja”. She’s only 5 years old so everything martial arts is “ninja” right now. Her muscle movement coordination is on par with that of a typical 5 year old and even though she can see what she needs to do and her mind tells her little arms and legs what to do, often her arms and legs will run amuck on her and do as they wish. She has yet to master the art of willfully moving her upper and lower body in conjunction with one another for a singular purpose. At times it is almost like there is a slight delay between upper and lower body movements and for a split second painful contortionism is taking place. Yet she loves going to “ninja school” even though she’s not very good at it, even though her body doesn’t quite always cooperate, she just loves to learn period.

Do you remember when you loved to learn? Regardless of what you say there was a time in your life when you loved to learn. Perhaps it was briefly during your toddler years when you copied everything your mom or dad did. Perhaps it was when you were a young teenager learning how to get a French kiss right without drooling. Perhaps it was when you turned 16 and drove for the first time…30 mph…in the far right lane…on the freeway…with your left turn signal constantly blinking.

You remember something right? Often we as students become so overwhelmed with what we have undertaken that we forget to actually enjoy the process. I’m guilty of this just like everyone else but next time you feel like chucking your laptop through the window and burning your books, think back to when you were younger and learning was more of a lifestyle than a singular choice and try to regain some of that attitude.