Sarah Buckman

Holly Pappas

English 101

14 March 2014

Curiosity and Self

When I think about the benefits of curiosity, what I imagine are the great figures throughout history that have invented or discovered something great.  I picture men like Christopher Columbus or Benjamin Franklin.   The curiosity of these men, and others like them has brought great changes to the human race.  While these huge discoveries alter the course of history, there is another side to curiosity.  This other side is an individual curiosity.  The question is, is this individual curiosity necessary for personal growth?

Curiosity determines who you are.   It guides you in many aspects of life.  It prevents boredom.  It is vital to cultivating an understanding of self.  It is a key to developing relationships. It can help develop a certain skillset or lead you to a particular career.  It will also guide many life choices.

Curiosity plays a role in keeping us entertained.  This may not seem to be a very important role, but in reality it is.  Boredom plagues us all at some point.  Having curiosity leads us to explore different kinds of activities.  By doing so, we are able to develop hobbies.   As a child, I didn’t really play video games, or watch television.  I was sent outside to play.  From as far back as I can remember I loved being in nature.  I loved to explore.  I found crawfish in the streams, frogs in the ponds, and salamanders under rocks.  That childhood curiosity developed into my love for camping and hiking.

Curiosity also helps you build relationships.  Curiosity about other people leads to interaction and bonding.  When you are a curious person you are more likely to try another persons hobby, or do something that typically wouldn’t interest you.  For example, I played hockey from a young age.  As a result, I like to go skating when I can.  I encouraged my friend to go with me.  She decided to come along for the activity, and she enjoyed it.  Now we bond over it.  Curiosity has also strengthened my relationship with my mom.  As a child, my mom worked long hours and often had to travel for work.  As a single mom, she was left to do most of the cooking.  So, my curiosity about cooking provided us with a way to foster our relationship.

As continued proof that curiosity spurs individual growth I look to my fellow classmate.  On her blog, Krystal explains an experience where her uncle was arrested and ultimately convicted of a murder that occurred in her home.  She was present throughout the trial, and it brought up many questions.  The proceedings prompted her curiosity about forensic psychology.  She was so interested that she has chosen to follow her curiosity into a career.  This just goes to show how powerful curiosity is.  It is able to take a horrible and terrifying experience and convert it into something positive and productive.

The progression of creativity also helps to further the individual.  Using an example taken from Clark, curiosity helps children develop an understanding of their environment.  For instance a child learns red stove, means hot (Clark). The correlation continues.  Stove is hot, hot means burn, burn means pain.  This is an important connection for a child to make.  But curiosity takes it further.  We know the correlation between stove and pain, but the next lesson is that when used carefully you can cook.  If curiosity continues cooking could evolve into a hobby or even a career.

Another reason curiosity contributes to personal growth is that it helps you make choices.  In his blog, Kenolive spoke of his experience with Salvia saying “My curiosity about drugs is mostly gone, but my curiosity of life has only changed” (Kenolive).  Curiosity about salvia, and probably a little peer pressure, persuaded Ken to give it a try.  The experience that followed was one of learning.  And the lesson was that drugs were not for him.  He lost all desire to use mind-altering substances, but his curiosity has been otherwise sustained.

Curiosity has a great impact on our lives.  There have been countless discoveries and inventions that have changed the face of history for all man kind.  In his article “How Curiosity Works,” Josh Clark says, ”Under this view, curiosity is like a vehicle we use to expand ourselves”(Clark).  While curiosity has had an impact on the human race as a whole, each of us is impacted individually as well.  It seems that curiosity affects us in all areas of our lives in one way or another.  I believe we are all a sum of our experiences, and that we choose what experiences we have based on our curiosity.

As continued proof that curiosity spurs individual growth I look to my fellow classmate.  On her blog, Krystal explains an experience where her uncle was arrested and ultimately convicted of a murder that occurred in her home.  This occurrence prompted her curiosity about forensic psychology.  She was so interested that she has chosen to follow her curiosity into a career.  This just goes to show how powerful curiosity is.  It is able to take a horrible and terrifying experience and convert it into something positive and productive.