We talk about education like it ends. A set of years. A system you pass through before real life begins.
But learning doesn’t stop when school does. It just stops being formal.
Some of the most important things I’ve learned didn’t come from a classroom. They came from mistakes. From watching people closely. From just listening and saying nothing
I used to think learning was about content — books, podcasts, TED Talks. Now I think it’s about attention. What you notice. What you let change your mind.
We’re taught to associate education with structure — lessons, syllabi, certificates. But life doesn’t have a curriculum. The hardest things I’ve had to learn weren’t signposted. No one tells us how to grieve well. Or how to listen when I’d rather speak. Or how to unlearn something I was sure of.
That’s all education, too.
The most valuable learning often happens in the background. In conversations that stay with you. In feedback that stings. In realising that what worked once doesn’t anymore.
Education doesn’t need permission. It doesn’t wait for the right setting. It shows up in quiet moments — your child asking a question you can’t answer, your partner challenging a long-held belief, someone showing you a better way to be.
It’s everywhere. If you’re paying attention.
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