Consume with a purpose

I want to practice listening. I want to take in the world around me. I want to be painfully aware, attuned to people’s words, picking up their tone, imagining what their life is like. I want to hear happiness in their voice, I want to detect sorrow. I want to remove the earbuds and listen.

I am on my way to 4 degrees, and what do I have to show for it? 

I did not engage with the material, I listened passively, I studied just to pass, I memorized instead of trying to understand. I did not think critically, because academia is not designed to make you think, but to mold you, to have you listen, read, memorize and regurgitate.

I want to be well read, I want to engage with books and art in a critical way, I want to generate my own thoughts and not repeat the ideas of others.