Some of the smartest people I know are not afraid of not knowing things. Most of the time, they are never 100% certain about anything. They don’t fall into the trap of thinking they are experts in every field and will freely admit there are things they know nothing about. It’s unnerving. They ask a lot of simple questions that everyone else is afraid to ask because they might look stupid. They are comfortable in the realm of the unknown.

Learning happens when we dare to step into the realm of the unknown. By not knowing and not pretending to know, we begin to get more comfortable with feeling our way through the dark new rooms and finding the light switch.

2020 is like one big dark room. We can either curl up in a ball, or we can start slowly adjusting our eyes to the darkness and seek out the light switch We all have to get used to being frightened by the unknowns. When will this end, will it flare back up, what does a post-COVID world look like? Let’s figure it out together by asking questions and adopting the beginner mindset.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few” ― Shunryu Suzuki

Photo by Kwame Anim on Unsplash