Take a Book from Your Dad’s Shelf

Happy New Year!

Now is a time to celebrate the beginning of your new life in the next year. We’re on break, so fun is always around the corner. It’s nice to have the adventures that come with spending time goofing around with friends over the holidays.

However, boredom can lead you to wonderful places as well.

The mundane often follows me wherever I go. Such is the consequence of growing up in a household where the internet is often taken away at a moment’s notice. There are many times I am left to think to myself and discover what I want. It is at that point that I decide I want to devote my life to learning. 

I try every day to expand upon my skills, reaching out into new hobbies whenever possible. At home I do keyboarding, juggling, instruments, puzzles, and coding. Any current occupation can only tide me over for so long. Soon enough, I became curious about what sits right in front of me every day, which is the old bookshelf. And so, I picked up a book I am most intrigued with: Essential Kanji.

I start flipping through the pages, looking at the explanations coming from a lifetime of experience from a Japanese learner. It was then I realized that there is a world of possibility where I previously saw a mundane set of literature.

You must understand, middle adult life is subject to constant change at any given period, so keeping a book must hold significance to my dad (who, mind you, constantly throws away things left and right). There has to be lessons learned from within these books, histories pieced together that traces me back deeper into the depths of family ties and parental past. It will connect me to prior knowledge to send me forward into my own adult life. The same can be said for you, the reader, and your own dusty shelves. All you need is a bit of exploration.

More broadly, I urge you to do something different every day. No matter how small, you should experiment. Make breakfast out of ingredients you wouldn’t think go together. Step inside a store you always skip at the mall. Ask questions and research answers for the first thing that pops into your mind. These are what make good memories.

And maybe, every once in a while, take a book from your dad’s shelf.