how to claim an education
stop outsourcing your thinking
Welcome new subscribers to our cosy little space :) This is Shiying. I write about things I’m mulling about at Dear Spring. A little bit about me - I spent about two years doing healthcare consulting, three doing global health research, and am currently in between jobs (hence my lil absence). I currently find deep joy in reading, writing and painting and am so pleased to have you here <3
the path to our truest, most exquisite lives begins with ‘claiming’
As I find myself in a season between jobs, which means that I’ve had a lot more uninterrupted time to think about things that matter. Amidst the uncertainty of once again being in the job market, I found peace in returning to my commitment to practice devotion over discipline in 2024. Leaving a job that once seemed to check all the right boxes, I realised more than anything, I will stop at nothing to learn how to live my truest, most exquisite life. This life currently resembles: a work that lights a fiery glow inside me, sufficient white space to write, and a little grey kitten to top it all off.
Deep in my soul I believe that all of us are born in this world with a unique colour palette. Our lifelong task is simply to express our own palette’s vibrancy in its fullest, most vivid form in the external world. This means that we will get nowhere trying to paint like someone else, or by borrowing another’s colours and passing them off as our own. But to even begin to identify the hues and shades that they are born to express, we must go beyond simple, often passive receipt of education. Writing a piece on claiming an education has felt both apt and necessary - so that I may one day finally claim a life where full expression becomes as easy as breathing.
what claiming an education is **not**
I wanted to start by sharing what I think claiming an education is not. The word ‘claiming’ implies some kind of struggle or hard work for what you believe is rightfully yours. And so, when applied to something as intangible as ‘an education’, I want to stress that it is NOT:
Treating the words of authority as gospel, without thorough evaluation, question or critique.
Outsourcing your thinking and decision-making process to internet influencers and ‘gurus’.
Memorising and regurgitating information only to pretend that those are equivalent to understanding.
Considering your worldview and values as the only correct way to live.
Allowing the algorithms to decide what you consume.
Believing that you are incapable of achieving your fullest potential.
I’m not saying that any of the above is inherently wrong. Looking to experts for advice and influencers for recommendations without question can be one (efficient) way to navigate life. But to do so means that we are simply receiving an education, if the information you are inundated with can even qualify as such. To truly claim an education requires wrangling with the information. Flirting too, if you will. Question it, pick it apart and try to reassemble it. Ask if it can help you move closer to a life that closely resembles your ideal - a version truest and most beautiful to you. If not, why? And if yes, how?
how to actually claim an education
Part of illuminating how a piece of information can bring us closer to our ideal lives, requires both cognitive flexibility combined with a staunch refusal to outsource your thinking. The people I respect the most make claiming their own education a non-negotiable part of their lives. And it makes sense. It is after all, in our best interest to muster the courage to demand for what we deserve and devote ourselves to the hard, difficult work of thinking for ourselves. Here is how we can start:
Acknowledge that life trajectories can shift dramatically based on new information. Realise that we actually have a say in whether we stumble upon that information due to sheer luck, or deliberate investigation.
Be willing to look like a beginner, like a fool, like an idiot, whenever you start something new.
Invest almost as much time in learning about yourself as you do in learning how the world works.
Learn how to distinguish between authentic and manipulative intentions. So that you know how to discern lies from the truth.
Refuse to let others do the thinking for you, especially about the things you care deeply for.
Develop a blueprint for changing your mind.
Create more than you consume. If you’re an artist, paint, draw, write. If you’re an engineer, build, test, deploy. The more you create, the more you reveal the unique palette you are born to paint with.
Do whatever it takes to identify the work and ideas that make your heart sing.
Dare to sit with and learn about the person that you are.
Fall in love with life, become enamoured in its beauty and flirt with the world.
Discover, then cultivate the relationships that bring you peace and inspire you to become the best version of yourself.
If you’re a woman, learn to tune in to your monthly cycle. I can’t say this enough.
Failure to claim your own education comes at a hefty price: the price of ignorance. And some forms of ignorance are more expensive than others. Sometimes, we even end up paying both tangible and intangible costs that compound the longer we leave our education unclaimed (I’m thinking poor choice of friendships, not investing at a young age, never leaning into your strengths and curiosities, etc).
A more insidious, often overlooked downside of staying where you are/going with the flow is the cost of inaction. Living life passively probably depletes us more than we think. Meanwhile, the opposite is often true: a life spent claiming your education is the journey that keeps on giving. Its gifts are none other than joy and flourishing, the very same rewards that accompany any meaningful endeavour.
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so, how do you intend to claim your own education?
warmest,
shiying
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ps: ever since I left my last job, I have been experiencing this urgency to reclaim what is mine - my time. And a lot of it was spent catching up with whatever I’ve missed in the hustle and bustle of an overworked first two years out of college. I devoured Adrienne Rich’s On Lies, Secrets and Silence. I came across a women’s health dataset in Singapore and am learning some python to help me visualise some of the data…and I feel like bottled sunshine doing some sort of research again. Jet was kind enough familiarise myself with the LLM consumer landscape and I think I’m getting so much better at prompting!
also…I just wanted to say that I reconnected with peers in global health and felt an inexplicable joy surrounded by people who loved the work they were doing. It is this intoxicating blend of inspiration and purpose. For now, it is clear to me that the cost of inaction, staying put in a place where I clearly don’t belong, is too great a price to bear. Even if I had to be unemployed for a couple of months to get to a place that aligns better with the life I want to build for myself, I’ll take it.
I often look back and thank younger Shiying for the risks she’s taken. I’m sure older Shiying will look back and thank me for the risks I am taking.