I am zealous about learning new things, but sometimes, learning something new entails unlearning something old. Old ways of thinking are ingrained thoughts, ones that we act on automatically, without giving them too much consideration.  But when we become even just a little bit more aware of what we think, and why we think that way, we may conclude the need to unlearn an old way of thinking. 

      Admit

There were three words that, as a child, my father despised, “I don’t know.” Saying those words to his face, brought out the worst in him. Though those words never crossed my lips while in his presence, I witnessed more than one of my siblings muttering that statement to him. The results were teeth rattling and nothing I wanted to ever personally experience. 

Now that I’ve raised my little brood of offspring, I doubt that my dad meant us any harm. Parents have their pet peeves and attempt to steer their kids clear of what they deem harmful. 

For dad, “I don’t know,” may have equated to laziness. “What do you mean you don’t know,” was his standard response. I know he did not want any of us to settle for not knowing something that we could probably figure out. Scolding us for such a statement may have been his way of motivating us toward growing in knowledge. 

But, it was only after I’d grown up that I considered his words more closely. Though I’d never told Dad that I did not know something, I knew there were lots of things I did not know.  Hence, I equated not knowing as something I should be ashamed of and nothing I should ever admit. 

Yet, until we are willing to acknowledge to ourselves, silently, written in a journal or out loud to a trusted friend, that we do not know, we may never know. 

I believe that to learn means that I know I’m lacking in an area, but it also means that I don’t want to remain ignorant. Though I may not know something, I want to know. But first I have to say, “I don’t know.”

Why bother unlearning? When we consider our old ways of thinking we may want to let them go in order to learn something new.