Learning Out Loud
A winding path curves out of sight through a green landscape before disappearing out of sight, reflecting the uncertainty, curiosity, and growth that can come with learning out loud.
Editor’s note: This is written from my current vantage point
Welcome back, knowledge seekers and kind beings, to another chapter of the Life Taking Shape series, where life changes long before we may have the language for what’s happening. In this series, we’ll reflect on those shifts, the subtle ways we grow, outgrow, question, learn, and evolve. Not through certainty but through experience. Not through aerial, but through becoming.
In the previous piece, Still Becoming, I reflected on the uncertainty that can come with identity shifts and the space between who we were and who we’re becoming. One of the realizations that emerged from that reflection was that growth rarely arrives with complete clarity. More often, it unfolds through experience, questions, and a willingness to move forward before we feel fully prepared. And perhaps that’s where some of life’s most meaningful lessons begin, not after we’ve figured everything out, but while we’re still learning along the way.
That’s what makes growth rewarding and challenging. It’s something many of us want, but it often asks more of us than we initially expect.
Growth is something many of us want, but wanting it and experiencing it are very different things. While growth can be exciting, it can also be uncomfortable. It asks us to step beyond what’s familiar, take risks without guarantees, and trust a process that rarely unfolds overnight. Often, progress isn’t immediately visible. Days, weeks, or even months can pass before we recognize how much has changed. But a lack of visible results doesn’t mean growth isn’t happening. More often that not, growth requires us to try new things, embrace uncertainty, and allow ourselves to be beginners again. It asks us to move forward before we feel fully ready and to keep learning even when we don’t yet know where the path will lead.
Yet if growth requires us to step beyond what we already know, then curiosity if often what carries us the rest of the way.
In many ways, I think curiosity is one of the most important ingredients for growth because it naturally creates more of it. The people who continue expanding their knowledge, exploring new perspectives, and remain open to the world around them aren’t always the smartest or the most talented people in the room. More often, they’re the ones willing to ask questions, make mistakes, challenge their assumptions, and keep learning. They understand growth isn’t about already having all the answers, it’s about staying open to discovering them.
I’ve always found myself drawn to that process. When something genuinely interests me, I want to understand it. I like to ask questions, explore different viewpoints, and dive deeper beneath the surface. Whether it’s a topic, a skill, an experiences, or even understanding people, curiosity has often been the thing that keeps me moving forward long after certainty runs out.
But curiosity alone isn’t always enough. Sometimes the greatest obstacle isn’t a lack of opportunity, knowledge, or ability. It’s the stories we tell ourselves about what it means not to know. Somewhere along the way, many of us begin believing that we should already have the answers. We worry that asking questions will make us appear inexperienced, that making mistakes will make us look less capable, or that being a beginner somehow reflects a lack of intelligence. In reality, every skill, every passion, and area of expertise begins in the same place: not knowing.
The truth is, no one improves without first being willing to try. Growth requires us to risk getting it wrong, to look inexperienced, and to accept that learning is often messy. Fear of judgement, perfectionism, ego, and the need to appear knowledgeable can keep us standing still far longer than lack of ability ever could. If there’s something you’re genuinely interested in learning, creating, or exploring, don’t let those things stand in your way. Give yourself permission to start where you are.
This was a lesson I had to learn myself. For a period of my life, I spent far too much energy worrying about how others might perceive me. I often felt self-conscious about not being at the skill level I thought I should be at, especially when it came to art. Creativity has always been a meaningful part of my life, yet I rarely shared that side of myself openly. I hesitated to talk about my work, let alone put it out into the world.
It wasn’t that I lacked passion or interest. If anything, it was the opposite. Art mattered to me, and because it mattered, it felt vulnerable. I worried about being judged, misunderstood, or perceived as not being “good enough”. Despite years of creating, experimenting, and learning on my own, I still often feel like a beginner. Outside of an art history class I took while earning my associate’s degree, I’ve never had formal art training. There are still moments where I question how to classify my work, struggle with certain techniques, or feel uncertain about subjects I’d like to improve.
But that’s the nature of learning. No matter how much experience we have, there will always be something we don’t know yet. There will always be another skill to develop, another perspective to explore, another lesson waiting to be learned. And I think that’s part of the beauty of it. Learning isn’t about reaching a point where you know everything. It’s about remaining open to the possibility that there’s always more to discover.
And maybe that’s the point.
Not to know everything. Not to get it right the first time. Not to wait until we’re confident, experienced, or certajn before allowing ourselves to participate.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that growth doesn’t happen after we’ve mastered something. It happens while we’re still figuring it out. It happens in the questions we ask, the mistakes we make, the risks we take, and the moments we’re willing to be seen trying.
That’s the heart of learning out loud.
It’s giving yourself permission to begin before you feel ready. To try something new without knowing where it will lead. To explore an interest, pursue a passion, ask a question, or take a chance simply because something about it calls to you.
Nothing everything you try will become a lifelong passion. Not every path will lead where you expected. But every experience has something to teach you if you’re willing to remain open to it.
Don’t let fear, perfectionism, self-doubt, or the expectations of others convince you that you need to earn the right to participate. You don’t need to be an expert before you begin. You don’t need all the answers before you take the first step.
Sometimes the most meaningful growth happens when we stop worrying about how we’ll be perceived and allow ourselves to be curious instead.
So give yourself permission to learn out loud. Ask the question. Take the class. Share the idea. Try the thing you’ve been putting off. Let yourself be a beginner.
And if this resonated with you, take a moment to reflect on something you’ve been curious about but hesitant to pursue. Is there a skill, hobby, interest, or opportunity you’ve been waiting to feel “ready” for? What might happen if you gave yourself permission to start before you felt fully prepared?
Because life doesn’t take shape after we’ve figured everything out. More often than not, it takes shape while we’re still learning, exploring, and discovering what’s possible.
I look forward to searing each and every one of you back here next week, as we continue tackling expansion and identity shifts. Until then, sending you love and light.
As a signature of my blog, I’d like to end this post with a suggestion to “Pass on kindness.” There’s no time like the present to Inspire Those Who Inspire You. Acts of kindness, no matter how big or small, can have a direct, positive impact on someone else. Go out there today and change someone’s life for the better!
***These are my personal opinions and may not be those of my employer.***
