I had always enjoyed learning, but it wasn't until I came to college that I fell head over heels for it.
I'm not just talking about your typical classroom learning. I'm talking about all types of learning. Learning from mistakes, learning new crafts, learning new things about myself, and expanding my knowledge on the things I already love. College offered me so many new opportunities that I had never thought of pursuing before, which allowed me to find my love for learning. At first, it was a bit overwhelming, but I began to find the things that I, myself, truly enjoyed learning about. When you love something, it's fun to learn about it. Finding new loves opened new doors to learning. Opened doors lead to new loves, and the cycle continues.
It's not a walk in the park to be a life-long learner, it takes patience, effort and perseverance in the face of failure, and then learning from failures if (and when) they happen. It takes motivation and stick-to-itiveness. Learning from our mistakes is one of the hardest parts. When you give up in the face of failure or difficulty, you deprive yourself of learning lessons that can only be learned through struggle. Everyone has their demons, and no one wants to face them. However, if (and) you are brave enough to embrace your failures--look at them as lessons, then the demons aren't so scary anymore. Just lessons learned.
I like to think of myself as a sponge, soaking up all the information I can while I am able to. I get called "nerdy". I enjoy studying. Mistakes are just new learning opportunities. I like to read. I like going to class and listening to lectures. I like writing research papers. It can be tiring, and you have to remind yourself to take breaks. I like to watch documentaries more than reality TV. I get "way too into" certain topics that interest me. I feel so passionate about things going on in the world and want to learn as much as I can about them. I never want to stop learning. I am a life-long learner, and these are my confessions.