Being the eternal student

Sock-knitting queen Christine Perry – aka blogger The Winwick Mum – invites us to embrace the new year and all the creative possibilities it brings…

Some years ago I had a conversation with a friend and told her I was starting my Master’s degree. I can still remember grinning as she rolled her eyes at me – I told her that she was wrong and I would always be a student. There’s always something new to learn, we can have interests in many different directions (my Master’s degree is in Classical Studies because I love Roman history), and I believe it all adds to the richness of our lives.

IN THE KNOW

For her, there was a divide between learning and living (or in our specific conversation, getting a ‘proper job’) – one began where the other finished, whereas I think that the two can and should exist side by side. If you’ve ever tried out a news tip that you’ve picked up from Simply Knitting or someone at your knit ’n’ natter group, if you’ve ever tweaked a recipe based on someone’s recommendation or you just fancied learning something new, you have increased your own knowledge and will, in all probability, increase someone else’s if you tell them about it – even if it’s only to tell them it didn’t work! To shut yourself off from all of that opportunity means that there’s so much you might miss out on – and I think that is a shame.