Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Taking time off from university, I love it! How can I stay this way?

Vanessa · 02-10-2007, 05:27 PM

Tasaio,

One of the things that immediately crossed my mind when reading your post was you have a fear or dislike of authority, structure and maybe even self-discipline.

On one hand you worry about approval or disapproval from your parents and on the other you are concerned an authority higher than your parents will force you to do something against your will since you don't want to go to school.

I should hope that if you are ready to stand by your own choices in life, like not continuing with college, you have to same strength to be self-reliant and responsible for your actions towards your purpose.

I also was reminded of something else. You talked of learning and education as a euphoric experience and that you feel productive when you learn do as you pleased. There are two ways to find value in education: either as entertainment or to fulfill a purpose.

I honestly hear you describe your learning as an enjoyable pastime --entertainment. You never once mentioned what productive output has resulted from being an independent learner since not continuing college. If learning is easy you are not pushing beyond your comfort zone of knowledge.

Book learning is all you seem to consider college to be. How are you building your social intelligence and working in teams and learning outside of books but through different environments and stress levels?

You must find your written ability to be strong to consider writing for money. What about your ability to discipline yourself to writing daily? Or different kinds of writing styles? What is your current output that makes you comfortable exchanging your writing skill and samples for someone else's money?

In posting, I wonder what kind of advice or approval are you looking for with your choice?

You have not yet found your purpose and that leaves me wondering if you are charting a new path to success or if you are tired of the path you were on and didn't like what you'd have to do to get to that previous goal.

The last thing I'd like to consider is your idea of money and education. If 10k yearly tuition is expensive, did you feel you earned 10k worth of challenges and learning in this last year. Assuming you were going for a bachelor's degree it would have costed you 40k to get. Is that too much money and 4 years too long to invest in your education though an established education system? What will you do to ensure that you get the best long term return on your independent learning that lasts well into your life?

02-10-2007, 05:27 PM	#10 (permalink)
Vanessa Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Sunny Florida Posts: 158	Tasaio, One of the things that immediately crossed my mind when reading your post was you have a fear or dislike of authority, structure and maybe even self-discipline. On one hand you worry about approval or disapproval from your parents and on the other you are concerned an authority higher than your parents will force you to do something against your will since you don't want to go to school. I should hope that if you are ready to stand by your own choices in life, like not continuing with college, you have to same strength to be self-reliant and responsible for your actions towards your purpose. I also was reminded of something else. You talked of learning and education as a euphoric experience and that you feel productive when you learn do as you pleased. There are two ways to find value in education: either as entertainment or to fulfill a purpose. I honestly hear you describe your learning as an enjoyable pastime --entertainment. You never once mentioned what productive output has resulted from being an independent learner since not continuing college. If learning is easy you are not pushing beyond your comfort zone of knowledge. Book learning is all you seem to consider college to be. How are you building your social intelligence and working in teams and learning outside of books but through different environments and stress levels? You must find your written ability to be strong to consider writing for money. What about your ability to discipline yourself to writing daily? Or different kinds of writing styles? What is your current output that makes you comfortable exchanging your writing skill and samples for someone else's money? In posting, I wonder what kind of advice or approval are you looking for with your choice? You have not yet found your purpose and that leaves me wondering if you are charting a new path to success or if you are tired of the path you were on and didn't like what you'd have to do to get to that previous goal. The last thing I'd like to consider is your idea of money and education. If 10k yearly tuition is expensive, did you feel you earned 10k worth of challenges and learning in this last year. Assuming you were going for a bachelor's degree it would have costed you 40k to get. Is that too much money and 4 years too long to invest in your education though an established education system? What will you do to ensure that you get the best long term return on your independent learning that lasts well into your life?