Learning to Unlearn.

When I first came to college, I met people with diverse interests from across the country. I had a good English education, so you would think it was easy for me to hold conversations with people. You'd be wrong.

I couldn't take part in conversations about anything other than STEM or cinema. This took a toll on me. I reflected on why that was the case, and it made me question — what did I actually learn back in school? I was so focused on what was in my textbooks I never bothered to look into other subjects or matters.

I remember sitting silently looking at my phone while my friends discussed different political ideologies and their stances. I wanted to take part, but felt helpless that I couldn't bring anything to the conversation.

Till high school I never bothered to have these views, because all the conversations I had were about things already in the book — nothing out of the box. No one really asked why. We just believed it. This is where my trait of accepting things as they were came from. I didn't care about what the ruling party or opposition party did, how a policy change in another country would affect me, or about any of the wars. I wasn't ignorant — just unaware. Over the last year, I had to learn how to unlearn things and question what didn't feel right.

All I did was listen to conversations and ask questions about every new thing I heard. Trust me, it's more embarrassing to pretend you know something you don't. Slowly I started making my own opinions, and now I believe I am in a much better place intellectually.

One thing I took away from this journey: it's really important to look up from your books and explore other subjects. Have opinions even if they clash with the majority. Have conversations with people from diverse fields. Never stop questioning things. The right question takes you a long way.

Your textbooks don't cover even 0.1% of what's out there. So look up.