Here in Texas, Summer is in full force with a string of oppressive 100 degree-plus days. Nonetheless, school buses have made their reappearance all over my neighborhood signaling the end of Summer. (If only … I’m ready for Fall, y’all!)
It’s that time of the year when Summer is over, and everyone is either already gone back to school or is preparing to go back. I always loved this time of year. I loved the Friday night Texas high school football games (and pep rallies), college (Texas Tech and UT Austin) and NFL (Dallas Cowboys) football games, State Fair of Texas, cooler weather and all the holidays at the end of the year (including my birthday). But most of all, I loved learning.
Just because you may not be in a classroom doesn’t mean that you have to — or even should — stop learning. It’s something you should be doing from the time you arrive on this planet until the moment you exit. I learn new things every, single day, and I get so excited about them that I want to share the information with everyone — It’s the journalist in me. But I have been accused on at least one occasion of trying to teach someone who wasn’t interested in learning. That blew my mind because I’m always open to new information and learning as much as I can about everything.
I had an interviewer ask me recently where did I rate my news level on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being a total news hound. I told him that I’ve had to make myself pull back on my news consumption for my own positive mental health. The truth is, I practice what I preach, and when I wrote about controlling your own mind (the topic of the book I’m currently writing) in my first book The Princess Guide to Healing a Broken Heart, I have done what I suggested by limiting social media and traditional media. I am still very informed about what’s going on in the world — it appears I know more than most people who claim to be up on current events. However, I don’t consume it nearly 24 hours a day like I used to.
When he asked me where do I get my news, I gave what I knew to be the “acceptable” answer — the Associated Press and CNN, but then I also told the truth … That I also listen to alternative sources so that I can get all the information available and make up my own mind about a topic. He was quiet when I said that.
It really upsets me that the profession I had wanted to be a part of all my life has turned into something from George Orwell’s book 1984. (I saw the movie a couple of years ago online, and it was so riveting that I couldn’t even take a bathroom break or press the pause button!) I became a journalist so that I could tell the truth, gather all the facts available, present them to the readers and let them make up their own minds. It’s essentially what I do here today. I was able to do that at most of the newsrooms I worked in until recently.
Journalism was always about presenting the facts as best as they could be gathered, and letting the reader use that information to make the best decisions for their lives. Now, however, it has turned into talking points from whomever signs the paychecks. How can you learn if information is being suppressed or withheld?
In recent months, I’ve come to realize that I am a princess from another place, and that I came here to learn lessons — much like going away to college — and to help people. We don’t have to live this life perfectly. As long as we’re learning and making behavioral corrections, we are doing life perfectly. It reminds me of the song by Level 42, Lessons in Love:
“Lessons in love. When will you ever learn? Lessons in love. When there’s nowhere left to turn … All the dreams that we were building, we never lived them. Could be better. Should be better. Lessons in love. All those plans that we were making are ours for the taking. We could lose it. We should use it. Lessons in love. All the homes that we were building, we never lived in. Could be better. Should be better. Lessons in love. If we lose the time before us, the future will ignore us. We should use it. We could use it. Lessons in love.”
Lessons of the heart can be the hardest. That’s why I write about them so much. They can be our most important lessons. Please, don’t stop learning. Don’t stop learning the personal lessons life/God/the Universe/Source/Creator is trying to teach you. Use what information others have assembled to help you on your journey, but always know that all the answers are within you. This is such a powerful realization I’ve had in the last few months that I’m including it in the updated version of The Princess Guide to Healing a Broken Heart.
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