Stay curious

I remember several years ago I taught CPR and first aid at the American Red Cross. It wasn’t odd to have several older people (usually men) in my classes who were there only because their company sent them. They were there because their company required someone in their department to have the certification.

It didn’t take long to figure out that in most cases these guys hadn’t really had to think in years. Their job was so routine and so boring you could tell that it had been a very long time since they had had to solve a problem or think creatively.

(Picture standing on an assembly line putting bottle caps on bottles)

The American Red Cross does everything it can to make the certification test passable. You watch a video, you listen to a lecture, you read a chapter, you practice a skill. They WANT you to pass the test! But these guys just couldn’t do it. It had been so long since their brains had been curious about anything, they’d fallen into a deep sleep.

Don’t let that happen to you! Stay curious! Keep asking questions. Keep on wondering what’s around that next bend in the trail. As Calvin said, “It’s a magical world Hobbes ol’ buddy…let’s go exploring!”