For the love of many things.

    Most of us have a passion or two, things that will never fail to make us happy. For some it's sports, for others it can be work, and for most of us we develop a passion for other people. It's an interesting idea that our passions are encouraged to develop in most areas, but not in others.
    Last night I somehow had the opportunity to discuss (in painful detail) my love and admiration for psychology and some of the amazing minds in my field. In the same night, with the same people, I got to lose my brain over hockey, and not just any hockey but my favorite team in the history of hockey... Including the history of my favorite team. I may have gone on to a tangent about my love of baking, love for learning, and love of my friends as well as my future husband. I was able to gush for hours about the things that make me lose my head with passion, and it got me thinking.
    In academia we are forced to pigeon hole ourselves into one specific field. We have to choose something to specialize in and focus our studies on that one thing. Why is that? Why do we have to decide on just one thing to learn everything about, even if it is permissible to continue learning in a peripheral way about other things? What's wrong with wanting to know everything that there is to know about, well, everything?
    I understand this concept of a Jack of all trades but a master of none. I recognize that it is more desirable to have a specialty. I recognize the benefits of these things, but I also think there is a benefit in continuing to learn about everything, isn't there? How can you know that you've found the thing that will entertain you forever if you haven't found everything? Basically, why would you ever want to stop learning if it means that you might miss out on something that could be your one true passion?
    I'm sure that my reluctance to stop learning has to do with the fact that, while I find myself passionate about everything, no one topic rises above and beyond the rest. I love psychology, and every time I learn something new I find it incredibly interesting. I haven't found something that makes me want to stop learning to focus on one area. Perhaps it will come one day, but I simply haven't found it yet. I have a passion for my field, I love my work, and I love everything about it.


Sure, I don't have everything figured out just yet, but it'll get there!!