About ten years ago, my dear college friend, Barbara, said she was just going to follow her curiosity for a year and see where it leads her. She said I’ll just take one step toward something I’m curious about. I’ll just keep taking steps until I’m not curious anymore.
I thought it was such a great idea. I wanted to do the same. But, what was I curious about?
I was a stay-at-home mom in the heart of Silicon Valley. I was surrounded by type A, always busy, go-go-go people. It is easy to get swept up in that mindset and think it’s not only normal, it’s the best way to be. I adapted to this type A world.
Often while I was sitting at a red light, I’d think, “What am I curious about?” I started worrying a bit. Nothing immediately came to mind. It took me weeks or months to put my finger on anything. The funny thing was that my curiosity started as an annoyance.
In 2013, I had been searching the internet for lighted slippers to help my dad see in the dark.
“Why didn’t someone invent this thing already? Shouldn’t it be on Amazon?”
Nope. Nothing. It was a silly idea, that seemed so dumb, yet so brilliant. I was looking for slippers with lights in the toe.
My dad had fallen in the middle of the night on more than one occasion. He would fall in the dark on his way to the bathroom. I kept searching the internet for lighted slippers. Truly there was not a thing out there.
I was annoyed. I wanted a solution for my dad’s nighttime falling.
The idea kept nagging at me. Again, while driving my kids around town, it would pop in my head. “How hard can it be? Why isn’t anyone doing this?”
When I wasn’t actively trying to find something to be curious about, I found my curiosity.
When you haven’t been in touch with your own sense of curiosity for awhile, it hides. As soon as you allow your mind to wander during idle time, your curiosity will show up.
If you aren’t used to tuning into your curious mind, it may take some practice.
Ask yourself to start noticing where your curiosity is leading you. How are you allowing time and space to tap into your curious mind?
