Learning & "Feelin' Groovy"

Several years ago I made a New Year’s resolution to learn something new every week. Every day seemed too ambitious to me. Even the less ambitious goal of once a week fizzled after a month or two. I should reinstate that resolution and keep it this time.

As we age, it’s important to shake those synapses so they don’t get rusty. In reality, my curiosity quotient is pretty high, so I probably don’t need a resolution. I just don’t always record It what I learned, and I might not remember it. If I don’t remember it, does it still count as learning?

If you google “learn something new every day” (and, of course I googled it – I’m addicted to google), you’ll get page after page of articles on the topic. How-to articles, articles on the importance of continued learning, apps and websites that help you learn something new every day. Even Martha Stewart, do-it-yourself queen, has posted an article on the topic. Daily Infographic offers “Curious video lessons and a personal Curious Quotient (CQ) score to ensure that you're learning something new every day in 5, 15, or 30-minutes.” They say learning something new is important to happiness and it gives you a rush of dopamine. Is that why I’m addicted to google – I’m actually getting a dopamine fix each time I google?

I googled 10 times in the creation of this article.

That’s 10 dopamine fixes. I’m "Feelin' Groovy."

Our friends play an important role in learning. I’d say over half of my new discoveries come from my friends. Thanks to friends I’ve learned that calico cats are always female; that it’s the electric amperage , not the voltage, that kills you; that confit comes from the French word confire (but I still don’t like it, even if it is French); and that the average age in Naples is 65.4 (it’s only 48.9 in Sarasota and 40.9 in Ft. Myers). Why don’t they ever ask questions like that in trivia contests?

Calico cats are female

Our friends learn from us, too. When my friend received a thank-you note from me postmarked South Dakota she asked, “Are you in South Dakota?” I told her, “When we travel, we use a postal forwarding service, a virtual mailbox. Many of virtual mailbox companies are in South Dakota.” She responded, “Oh, how interesting! I never knew that. You learn something new every day.” So, if you ever receive a note from a friend postmarked South Dakota, they most likely aren’t there; they are traveling and using a virtual mailbox.

Moving is a great way to learn new things. For our move to Florida, I googled “how to pack.” One site on packing crystal mentioned ‘you always wrap the crystal with the bubble facing the crystal.’ After moving 6 times and wrapping hundreds of things in bubble wrap, I learned I was wrapping things incorrectly. Why don’t they put the instructions on bubble wrap? This side up.

Speaking of bubble wrap, the company that invented bubble wrap, Sealed Air Corp, stopped making bubble wrap that pops in 2015. If you get a kick out of popping bubble wrap, you’d better keep the old stuff you have, because you won’t be able to get more. (3)

You won't be able to pop bubble wrap any more

I won’t bore you with all the technical things I learned such as how to scroll through pictures in Window Photos (that feature disappeared in Windows 10) or that I know that most of you are reading this blog on your cell phones (A huge surprise to me). Oh wait! I did just bore you with that.

I will share with you my most painful learning experience in many years: learning how to thread the serger sewing machine that languished in my closet for 10 years. It can use up to five threads, has five needles and an extremely complicated threading path. They even give you special tweezers to coax the thread through hard-to-reach places. One weekend it took hubby and me over 24 hours, many repeats of YouTube how to videos, a series of magnifying glasses of increasing strength, many false restarts and several cross words but we finally did it! And I was using only three threads.

Steps 4-10 (out of 13 steps) to thread just one of the serger threads

Wouldn’t you know, when I went to use the serger the next time one of the threads had snapped and I had to go through the process again. At least this time it took only 3 hours. I hope I’ve got that memorized now. Somehow, I don’t think that learning experience created a rush of dopamine – more like a rush of cortisol (the stress hormone). (Curious – when I googled “chemical released during stress” the first result was “1,185 Stress Hormone Illustrations & Clip Art – iStock Photo.” Really? 1,185 people drew pictures of stress hormones?

Oh, and if anyone ever gives you napkins or placemats they made with serged edges, heap praises on them. It takes a special, extremely patient (or crazy) person to figure out how to use the serger and they probably went through the gates of hell.

Napkin with serged edges

References

1. Madeline Buiano, How to Make Sure you learn something new every day (and why you should), June 16, 2022.

2. Anna, Daily Infographic, How to Learn Something New Every Day in 15 Minutes (or Less), April 29, 2019.

3. Peter Weber, The Week, Sorry, you won't be able to pop the new Bubble Wrap, July 2, 2015.