Perhaps the one thing that has done the most for my personal growth has been my tireless search for knowledge, truth, and life hacks. Being a seeker has pointed me toward countless wonderful resources for improving myself in ways I never thought possible. With nearly any issue I’ve faced, sooner or later I’ve found something that’s given me a potential path to victory. The more places I’ve gone to for information, the better I’ve gotten at improving myself and developing nuanced perspectives that help me understand and navigate the world.
Inspiration can appear anytime, anywhere. I’ve found it in books, songs, movies, TV shows, cartoons, dreams, and conversations with other people. The most seemingly innocuous things can provide me with incredible knowledge and insight if I’m paying attention. Sometimes I’ll realize the profundity of something many years after I first experienced it. Even though it can take a long time before I’m ready to fully understand some things and their implications, I think they still affect me in a positive way even if I’m not consciously aware of them.
Although this is still difficult for me to do at times, I strive to learn with an open mind and try to stay away from proving or disproving my own views. If I’m looking for evidence in favor of something I believe, I’ll find it; the same is true for evidence against things I believe. Whenever I set out to do anything other than learn, I stand a good chance of missing something useful and further entrenching myself in my current perspectives. It’s much more interesting to me (in addition to being much more frightening) to soak up as much information as I can and genuinely consider it even if doing so causes me to change my mind about something I’d once considered to be set in stone. That’s how I’ve grown and freed myself from limiting viewpoints, and it’s gotten easier the more I’ve done it.