Why You Should Always Be Learning Something New

10 Aug Why You Should Always Be Learning Something New

I love food. I didn’t grow up around a chef. In fact my parents both worked and with three kids, dinner was often pizza, vegetable & chicken quesadillas, tuna melts, or some sort of casserole that my mom had made in advance. While in college, I started to put my innate cooking skills to work. Well to be more specific, my baking skills and cooking brunch. Because I was still young, I could eat a dozen cookies in two days…and everyone needs a good brunch when they’re hungover. 

I was also influenced by my roommates — Allie had an Italian heritage and would make homemade bolognese and Virginia had a Chilean heritage and would make delicious fresh salads and seasoned chicken. I was so used to frozen veggies and sauce from a jar, my tastebuds went into hyperdrive when I tried their food. 

And this isn’t a diss to my mom. With more time available to her, she began cooking more inspired dishes more often. When I was in NYC, I started getting really jealous of one of my brothers that live near my parents and would go over on Sunday evenings for fabulous meals.  

Also, I think I had eaten Thai food only once before moving to New York City. Can you imagine not knowing the flavors of Massaman Curry and Pad See Ew?! But living in NYC for a decade turned me into a ‘foodie’ (an expensive hobby)! And I became excited to learn how to make some of the dishes I loved so much. Whenever I had the time, I would find a recipe and cook it. Although, as you can imagine, my kitchen was tiny and dark and I stopped wanting to spend time in there.

Returning to the Classroom

When we decided to pack up and leave NYC before our wedding, we had about 8 weeks. A few were spent traveling to two of our friends’ European weddings and we needed a week and a half before our own wedding to be back in the States. That left us with a month. It had been a dream to go to Italy, so we looked at Airbnb apartments in Florence. My criteria: a nice kitchen. We also thought, the Italian language is beautiful, learning a little will be good, we should take a class. Then we discovered our school also offered cooking classes. Yes, please!

Returning to the classroom gave me butterflies. I forgot how much I enjoyed learning. I also realized that I should have done this sooner. You should never stop learning! Of course, I went to plenty of work-related seminars and stayed current with advertising industry developments and news. But I’m talking about learning new skills, hobbies, and even languages. 

While in the Italian language class, I challenged my mind for 3.5 hours of grammar and conversation and then returned home to study and do homework for the next day. It made all the difference in our time in Italy.

studying the Portuguese language

And even though I didn’t stick with my Italian language studies afterward, it helped prepare me for the Portuguese intensive language class I took in Brazil. Most importantly, I need to become fluent in Portuguese, as it’s the first language of my in-laws.  

In the Italian cooking class, I learned some much-needed knife skills as well as cooking techniques and delicious Tuscan recipes. It also gave me the confidence and knowledge to adjust recipes I come across to my taste preferences or the ingredients I have on hand.

Learning Continued 

Feeling motivated, I subscribed to the New York Times: Cooking blog so I can access and save recipes in their app as well as receive weekly recipes that I try out here and there. I also downloaded a copy of ‘The America’s Test Kitchen Cooking School’ e-book to further hone my knowledge as an aspiring amateur chef. Then, when I was home for the holidays last fall, I hogged my mother’s kitchen and went on a cooking binge, making family dinner that much better.

Beefing Up Your Marketable Skills

I’ve had a Lynda.com membership for four months now. I can’t rave about it more. In fact, it taught me the essentials of WordPress so I could design this site. It’s helped me expand my digital and social marketing knowledge and tricks as well as give me pointers on photography. There’s even a course in there on how to find a remote job!! It also offers ‘Learning Paths’ — to become a web designer, developer or programmer and so on. It might not be as fun as attending a coding camp somewhere exotic, but it’s also only ~$25/month. And let me be clear, I’m not a paid spokesperson or affiliate for Lynda.com. Just a fan. 

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In conclusion, when you are a digital nomad and have the flexibility to plan your own schedule, I highly encourage you to learn a new skill or hobby, often. Not only will it be fun, it will teach you more about yourself AND make you more interesting 😉

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What new skills are you learning or have you learned? Leave a comment!

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