In the last three blog posts we looked at the importance of reflection for learning, how to reflect, and creating a learning portfolio. If one wants to learn and get better, reflective practice should be a very common habit. However, my intuition and personal experience tell me that it isn’t, most people avoid reflective practice and tend instead to escapism. Why? Because reflecting on your life and painful experiences is hard. Reflection is hard, escapism is easier. What is escapism?
Think about all the things that modern society offers you to get distracted and not have to reflect on what’s happening to you and how you are feeling. You have many options indeed, including work, entertainment, alcohol, drugs, social media, travelling, and so on. I’m not saying one needs to abstain from all these activities and live an ascetic life. With the exception of drugs, I practice all those activities. It is not about doing those activities but about how we do them. If we practice them to distract ourselves so we do not have to reflect, then they become escapism and we will not learn, understand ourselves, and improve our lives. I’m not saying to practice them in moderation, I’m saying to practice them in a way that not only do not prevent you from reflecting but give you more opportunities for reflective practice. Escape from escapism and reflect.
Starting with work. Becoming workaholics and adopting a relentless pursuit of wealth is probably one of the most common ways of escapism in modern society. Having a good work ethic is great, but are you leaving time to reflect on what things you truly enjoy? Are you leaving enough time to grow the relationships with people that should really matter to you? Not long ago I heard the case of a well-known journalist who committed suicide while on holidays with his family. Shouldn’t that be our best time? If I am not really enjoying spending time with those who are closest to me, I know it’s time to stop and reflect. Have I been putting too much time on work and not enough time on those relationships?
How about the other ways of escapism mentioned? Are they just activities to keep our senses busy? Travelling. Are we just trying to change the scenery, get busy in airports, airplanes, and other means of transport, go to the main touristic sites, snap a picture, and move to the next spot? Then come back home and start thinking about the next trip? Or are we learning by meeting people from different cultures, learning as much as possible from the places we visit so when we come back home we reflect on what we learned and how we can improve our lives? Reading a book, watching a movie, they can all be practiced as escapism if when we finish we move to the next distraction, or they can be wonderful opportunities for reflective practice and learning. Escape from escapism and reflect.
Remember the quote by John Dewey with which we started this series of blog posts on reflection “We do not learn from experience, we learn from reflecting on experience”. Become a learning machine and turn all of your experiences in opportunities to learn. Escape from escapism and reflect. So while I think about ideas for my next blog post, what are you planning to do?
Make an impact,
Pablo
Image By Pgbk87 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8390206