Day 2: Education is Freedom

“What is the fruit of these teachings? Only the most beautiful and proper harvest of the truly educated—tranquility, fearlessness, and freedom. We should not trust the masses who say only the free can be educated, but rather the lovers of wisdom who say that only the educated are free.”

EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 2.1.21–23a

Now, I can’t stress enough the importance of education. I feel that whatever I am in my life, whatever freedom and independence I enjoy all of them can be attributed to my education. But education is not limited to getting a degree. Being educated means being aware of the importance of learning. One has to continuously fuel up their knowledge to be truly free.

What I learned in my school and knowledge as part of my education helped to get financial freedom. But what I am learning every day helps me to be free emotionally as well as spiritually. It opens my mind to ideas and gives me the courage to take the plunge to follow my dreams. It gives me strength in tough times and serves as a friend in solitude.

Now how to inculcate the habit of learning in your life. I would say start small but be consistent. Make a routine to spend at least 30 mins to learn something, whether by reading a book, listening to audio programs or podcasts, watching informational videos, or doing online training. Now when you are starting then there is a motivation to go all in and 30 mins don’t seem enough. But I would urge you to start small especially if you are starting from 0 because if you set bigger goals for yourself it will be difficult to be consistent on the days when you are not motivated enough. But since 30 mins is not a big-time you can easily achieve this goal. You can’t imagine how much this 30 mins ritual is going to add up in your life over a period of months and years.

Let me know how do you inspire in yourself the habit learning in comments.