It's back to school season, nerds
Hello you highway to hell.
Holy crap it's September....
Like many people right now, I feel a little taken aback by how quickly the toasty rays of summer have dissolved into crispy autumn breezes. And on a personal note, those fresh "new year" September vibes feel a little extra poignant this year for me since, for the first time in over 15 years, I am strapping on my (virtual) bookbag and heading back to school.
Yes, this platypus still has a few surprises up her sleeve (perhaps inspired by the complex evolutionary history of this ridiculous animal), and luckily unlike dogs, you can teach a platypus new tricks... or at least I hope so.
To make it official: I am excited to be starting a new academic adventure this fall at uOttawa to begin my PhD studies in psychedelics, spirituality, community building and human connection. I know... it is the first time I have talked about this endeavour in these dispatches. But it has been a long time coming, and I am both (a little) nervous and (mostly) excited to begin this odyssey. It's a new direction for me in a myriad of ways (and you can follow the journey here if interested). But at the same time, this move is also kind of resonant with what we have been doing in this platypus community: namely, exploring what it means to be human. So thank you for being part of the journey that has moved me towards this moment!
And so here I go, trundling back to school. Of course the pandemic makes this feel extra weird. But honestly I think it would feel weird regardless. On a practical level, I feel like I am entering a completely new learning environment: when I was last in school, online research was barely a thing really, and most of the research I was doing was in books at the library. Now EVERYTHING is online (including all classes #thanksCOVID), and I am going to have to relearn everything I thought I knew about how to be in class or do desk research.
On a more existential level, I am going back to school as a "mature student". I vaguely remember being in classes with mature students when I was still a bright, shiny 20-something: those older people sitting up front with their nice pens and campus parking passes and insulated coffee thermoses... I didn't have big opinions about them, but I was maybe a little confused as to what they were doing there in the first place (don't you have a LIFE to go live?), and also perhaps a little intimidated by them. To me, they were a curious outlier in the student landscape, and I didn't really know how (or why) to include them in my day-to-day student life.
So now here I am: one of those weird, unpredictable free radicals with my insulated thermos and an inappropriate amount of life experience, and with no clue how to do this "student" thing again.
I had the chance to take some courses last semester before the world exploded, so have had a bit of an opportunity to expose myself to the reality of what I am getting into. Based on that experience and as the new academic year begins, I have been thinking a lot about how I want to show up for myself and others as I launch into this endeavour. A few things I am hoping to keep connected to:
Curiosity might have killed the cat but it FEEDS the platypus! I remember school feeling very serious all the time, like each exam was a do-or-die moment, or my future career hinged on each paper I wrote. It was an exhausting way to be and ultimately unproductive to genuine academic exploration. I want to make sure to cultivate my creativity and stay connected to the importance of imagination for learning
In my life and my career, for better or for worse, I have grown accustomed to being the boss. But as I learned last term, this predilection for being in the driver's seat doesn't always serve me well, and especially while trying to be in learning mode. So I want to make sure I am embracing curiosity but also humility. The best way to learn something is to realize that you don't have the answer
I know that I learn best by doing, and especially when I am connecting with others in that doing. When I don't know what's going on, I sometimes feel embarrassed by my ignorance and want to tackle things alone. And COVID is going to make this tendency extra easy to succumb to. I want to make sure to find lots of ways to learn from, be inspired by and grow with others on this journey.
When I asked a friend just finishing their PhD what one piece of advice they wished they had known going in, they immediately offered the following: "be prepared to change everything you know about yourself and the world around you." Intimidating words, but also very good advice. As we have been exploring with the Black Lives Matter movement for example, a big part of undoing the past and learning involves confronting our own ignorance and being willing to give up what we thought about who we are and what we know in order to be better, together. Learning is a transformative process-- and moving from ignorance to understanding can shake the foundations of how we relate to the world and our selves. I want to stay as open as I can to the opportunity to grow and evolve through this experience (maybe evolving closer to the evolutionary-dog's-breakfast that is the platypus)
Finally, I want to try to find a balance between taking things in (new ideas, new information, new approaches) and putting things out there (writing, sharing, doing). Knowledge is good, but applied knowledge is best. I want to continue to seek ways to create cycles of sharing and practical application while doing this work. I don't yet know what this will look like for now (outside of my new little blog) but I am excited to explore the possibilities as things unfold!
I share all of this since, as one might expect, I find a lot of what I am thinking about as I start school this semester also feels relevant for being a "student of life", and for engaging actively and constructively in the world. So maybe some of these reflections resonate as you start jiving with those September vibes.
But whether you are going back to school or not, September often has a tendency to feel messy and chaotic. So it might also be helpful to think about creating a "no" template, or what it can look like to navigate life when your surge capacity is depleted. Or maybe you are feeling inspired and want to launch a new creative endeavour-- there's a place to explore for that too!
Wherever you are at in your "student of life" journey (or your own academic pursuits #MatureStudentsUnite), I hope you are feeling inspired by the promise of the autumn season ahead. Whether we are ready for it or not, there is going to be LOTS going on as the social, political and health-related situations unfold. So my fellow students of life: take a seat in the front of the classroom, and get out your nice pens and insulated thermoses! Let's do this!
Hooray for September!
But wait! Perhaps all of this talk of going back to school is feeling a bit too intense on a sunny Sunday morning? Well then check out this interesting article about how smell training can change your brain in six weeks—and why it matters
Still too much realness? Then please enjoy this movie clip that completely captures my anxiety about relearning how to hug people again. I feel (awkwardly) seen.
From one learning person to another, I am glad that we can be inspired by the world together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a textbook-filled week!
Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus