Here’s to the curious

Have you ever woken up with the thought, “I wonder why sardines do that?” and then spent four hours on a Saturday watching videos on YouTube, tracking down the latest on sardine research, or wondering about the first people who decided sardines needed to be paired with mustard? 

Have you ever waited for someone and daydreamed into the pictures in their office? Do you try to figure out their hobbies by what’s on the bookshelf or deduce where they are likely to retire?

Have you ever gotten lost on purpose?

Have you ever gone to work on the wrong days just to see what’s on the dark side of that buildings calendar?

Have you ever stopped a stranger to ask about her hat?

Do you like rabbit trails more than sticking to the agenda?

Do you like to ask the server what their favorite thing is on the menu?

Do you go to a conference outside of your area of interest, just because?

Do you bring a camera… just in case?

Do you ask your friends way too much about how they do their job?

If you answered yes to some of those. You aren’t weird. You’re curious. 

Here’s to the Curious

Very little is discovered by compliant people. The system builds middle managers.

The world is full of people who mislabel iteration as innovation, who worry about efficiency instead of invention, and who look at toddlers and wonder what’s wrong with them instead of looking at their curiosity and wondering what’s wrong with everyone else.

Life is play to the curious. The greatest joy is discovering something, anything that they didn’t know when they woke up.

To the curious go the spoils of newness.

Here’s to the curious.

Explore more and worry less.

Photo credits: Sardine Boat – Essaouira, Morocco by Anita Gilmore via Flickr (Creative Commons) Jack Rabbit on the Fortini Trail by Don DeBold via Flickr (Creative Commons) Do Not Cease To Hope Graffiti by Steven Depolo via Flickr (Creative Commons)