We often say that you learn something new every day, but in practice this generally means odd things picked up accidentally – the capital city of a far-away country, the date of a historic event or why milk is white (it’s the emulsified fat droplets apparently). Most of us associate dedicated, focused learning with school or university. But learning something new is a wonderful lifelong ambition – and not just because it improves your skills or employability.
Learning new things is good for you – for your brain, and also for your mind. It gives you something interesting to focus on, a goal to work towards, and a sense of achievement with a new piece of information learned or a new skill gained.
This is backed up by medical research. The Mental Health Ireland website cites a 2004 study of 145 adults in which people who were involved in more learning reported feeling higher levels of self-esteem, self-confidence and purpose, and a better ability to cope with stress.
Learning new things is one piece of advice given by writer Laura Freeman in her memoir about using reading as a route to recovery from Anorexia, The Reading Cure.
She says: “There are too many self-help guides that say: get fit, lose weight, make friends, find a hobby, revamp your wardrobe. Clear the clutter to clear your mind. Eat right – and right is always avocado, chia and other whatnot – to ‘improve your mood’. Better they should say: feed your mind. Learn something, read something, see something new: a painting, a church, a bird, a rose garden, a park, a monument, a castle moat white with swans and hidden perch, a mews of hooded merlins, an elephant with ivory tusks and a palanquin throne on his back. Fill your thoughts with the world and what wags it.”
Freeman echoes this again at the end of the book, with the final advice: “Learn something. It is the best medicine. It is the only thing that never fails.”
Learning something new needn’t mean enrolling in a class – while this is a great option, it might not be financially or logistically viable for everyone. It could be learning to cook a new dish, how to fix a frequent DIY problem yourself rather than calling your go-to helper, learning a language online or finding a non-fiction book which sparks your interest.
So what could you learn?