Today's quote comes from Abigail Adams (1744-1818), the second First Lady of the United States and wife of the second U.S. President, John Adams: "Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and diligence." I agree wholeheartedly with Abigail. What she is saying is that people must take an active interest in learning. Books do not merely fall from the sky and into your lap -- you need to seek them out, whether at home or in the library. The same applies in the digital world, where you can find helpful videos on YouTube, informative articles on Wikipedia, and so forth. Unfortunately, far too many people believe learning stops the day you graduate from college. This couldn't be further from the truth. Just because you don't have to take exams or write papers anymore doesn't mean you can't learn how to play an instrument, read and write in a different language, or start your own business. Nothing enriches the mind like knowl...

If I asked you what the definition of the word "ape" is, you'd likely say it's a large primate like a gorilla or orangutan. But do you know what "ape" means as a verb? I came cross the word in the book I'm currently reading, Alexander Hamilton , where the author states that, despite having gained their independence from the mother country, many Americans were still "aping" the customs of the British even toward the end of the 18th century. Before that, I hadn't seen the word used in a similar context since my college days. Per my trusty dictionary, it means to imitate the behavior or manner of someone or something, often in an absurd or unthinking way. Synonyms for ape include mimic, copy, parrot, and parody. Did you know the definition for "ape" before reading this post?

Being a kid is similar to being a parent in that someone else usually dictates and/or influences many of the decisions you make . As a child, you answer to your parents and abide by their rules. As a parent, your spouse and kids exert a major influence on your choices. Either way, your flexibility is limited, as other people in your life play a chief role in your overall lifestyle. Things are markedly different in our late teens/early 20s, however, as we transition into young adulthood. For most people, the college years are the only time in our lives where we're responsible for -- and answer to -- no one but ourselves. I don't look back on my childhood fondly. My parents got divorced when I was only 3, and my father was extremely overprotective of me. Having to go from one house to another each week was not fun in the slightest. Middle school and high school were largely forgettable. College, on the other hand, afforded me the opportunity to reinvent myself. I reli...

Which qualities do you possess that you wish other people shared? In my case, it's two in particular: 1. Non-judgmental: While many other people have a knack for criticizing something about everyone else -- whether it's their weight, house, or the clothes they wear -- I've remained largely non-judgmental throughout my life. As a kid, I was often teased about my weight, so I know firsthand what that's like. I also refrain from pressuring people into doing things they don't want to do, even if it goes against the grain. In general, many tend to criticize people's looks, decisions, and lifestyles when they deviate from the norm. I'm proud to say I've never been that way. 2. Intellectually curious:  Unfortunately, most people don't share my passion for learning. The vast majority of those I come across are unwilling readers. They admit that they haven't opened a book or watched a documentary since graduating from college. In my view, this...

If you could relive any phase of your life, what would it be? For me, it would be my college years, hands down, and many of my friends, relatives, and co-workers echo that very sentiment. And it's not because I miss drunken fraternity parties or on-campus events. For starters, I don't drink and I was never in a fraternity. Because I was a commuter student, I never actually lived on campus and thus didn't have the quintessential college experience. Still, I loved college because the academic atmosphere suited me. I always excelled in school (thanks largely to my mom, who instilled in me a passion for learning) and felt completely in my element. Even though I got a part-time job during my junior year, I still considered school my top priority. Indeed, I was one those reviled nerds who enjoyed reading voraciously and writing papers. One of the best aspects of college -- it's probably the one I miss the most -- was the flexibility it afforded me. When you're i...

I hear so many people complain of boredom on a daily basis. This leaves me quite flummoxed considering the wealth of things to do nowadays. I find nothing to be as big a boredom buster as learning. There's a widely-held if erroneous view that learning stops the moment you receive your college diploma. This couldn't be further from the truth. Even though I'm no longer in college, I continue to indulge my passions for history and psychology by reading on my own. I get such bad traffic on the way to work and back that I'm usually able to get a great deal of reading done on my commute. (I only read while at a red light or in bumper-to-bumper traffic, of course.) I also read during my lunch break and before going to bed. To me, learning is not only intellectually enriching, but it gives me something to look forward to and build upon each day. I love coming across a word I didn't know the meaning of and looking up the definition. I have fun learning new historic...

If you were to write a note or letter to a much younger version of yourself -- say, your teenage self -- what would it say? Which life lessons or tips would you be sure to incorporate? Here are a couple that I would include: Enjoy your college years to the fullest. Once you graduate, you'll be entering the not-so-fun world of bills and responsibilities. Don't rush to find love. It's better to take it nice and slow. You don't want to feel like you trudged through a significant chunk of your life with someone who turned out a poor fit. As you get older, you'll encounter people at work and elsewhere who will try to get you to change. If you don't drink, you'll run into people who will pressure you to do so. They'll also question things like why you aren't married, why you don't have kids, why you're so reserved, why you didn't become a doctor or lawyer, and so on. What should you do? Never give in, of course. If people can'...

Your career choice shouldn't be predicated solely on earning potential. While money is important, it means little if you're going to be miserable. I started college as an accounting major. While few other career paths are nearly as lucrative and stable, I just couldn't see myself crunching numbers for the rest of my life. I switched to marketing, which wound up being a much better fit. Many factors beyond money merit consideration, like opportunities for growth, number of hours required, stress, and, most important, whether one actually likes the work. You don't have to be ardently passionate about what you do. After all, you're there to work -- not to have fun. However, your work should be tolerable; if anything, you should enjoy it at least a little. We spend most of our waking hours in the office. Doing something you detest for 40 or more hours a week translates to pure agony -- at least it would for me. One other important factor to consider: Do you su...

I've come a long way since graduating from college: I landed a good job, bought a new car and condo, married the love of my life, and have traveled considerably. Why is it, then, that I can't help but reminisce -- fondly, I might add -- about the days when I was a broke college student? After giving this some serious thought, I arrived at a possible answer. It isn't so much that life gets more dull as you get older. What it becomes is more predictable, and you no longer have the flexibility to do the things you did in your 20s. Many of us spend the first couple of years of our college experience exploring which career paths we want to pursue. I myself switched majors once, and I know several people who did so multiple times. Once we've pinned down a major, we usually have choice of activities we can partake in to enhance what we learn in the classroom -- from extracurricular activities to opportunities to travel abroad. Then comes the uncertainty surrounding...

I just finished reading an article on Univision.com stating that Hispanics continue to have the largest teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. A myriad of factors are to blame, including lack of education about pregnancy, not having the means to procure contraceptives, parents finding the subject too taboo to discuss with their kids at a young age, and so on. However, a high incidence of teen pregnancy isn't exclusive to the Latino community in the U.S. -- it's prevalent across all racial groups. Take all the reality shows on MTV that center on teen pregnancy, like "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant." I firmly believe that parents should begin having an earnest talk with their kids about sex in their last year of elementary school. In fact, I remember taking a human growth and development course in the 5th grade, but talk of birth control and pregnancy was scant at best. We all know what happens once kids hit middle school: they hit puberty. Their hormones begin...

Our high school/college days seem well behind us, don't they? There are certainly things most us might miss about that time of our lives, including: Having a busier social life than we do now: People go in different directions after high school, causing us to lose contact with many of our closest friends. And though we may be able to keep in touch with a few, things are never quite the same. Proximity plays a huge role when it comes to friendships. It was so much easier to maintain them when you knew you'd see your buddies every day in gym class or Home Ec. Once you graduate from college and have bills, work, and other priorities to worry about, an active social life no longer takes precedence. Once we hit our 30s and 40s, we can consider ourselves lucky if we have three people we can call true friends. Being closer to family members: For most of us, our high school years comprise the last stretch in which we'll ever live at home with our parents. While living at ho...

When we were kids, we were asked a specific question that we probably felt we knew the answer to: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Answers would run the gamut -- from firefighter to teacher to baseball player. It's understandable that we wouldn't know what our calling is at such a young age. Unfortunately, though, some of us -- even in our 20s, 40s, or 60s -- still haven't arrived at a concrete answer. It's well-documented that a lot of us switch majors multiple times in colleges and go on to receive a degree in something we might never use in the real world. While this isn't a big deal, it does become a problem when one opts to change careers several times after being in the working world for a considerable amount of time. Here are a couple of reasons why: It shows you can't make up your mind as to which career you wish to settle into People will start to think you can't hold down a job Your resume is proof that you have ...

All of us have gripes with certain things about our present lives, whether it's being stuck in a dead-end job, not having enough friends, being overweight, or just feeling like we're in a monotonous rut. This has some of us feeling rather depressed or even wallowing in self-pity. The secret to life is not what happens to you, but how you react to and deal with such circumstances. I'll give you an example: While I blog and freelance on the side, my day job is as a copywriter in the travel industry. While I enjoy working in the travel business, I sometimes feel as though I'm doing nothing truly meaningful in the private sector; it's all about the bottom line and helping the big-wigs get richer. I found my college days to be the best time of my life, largely because I loved learning, studying, and challenging myself to get A's and graduate with a high G.P.A. (I take pride in the fact that I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.91 G.P.A.). Thus, I yearn to eventua...

In my most recent post, I stressed the importance of taking a few moments every once in a while to mentally transport yourself back to a memorable time in your life -- whether it's your days in college or the first months into your relationship -- via pictures or music. Doing so stirs up positive feelings, especially if, for whatever reason, you want to mentally escape from the present. Another observation I've made is that our fondest memories seem to involve starting or ending something. This makes complete sense, as we often commemorate beginnings and endings: When babies are born (the start of life) Paying respects to someone who has passed (end of life) Starting grade school Leaving grade school  Starting college  Leaving college to enter the real world Starting a new relationship Marriage Your first sexual experience (losing your virginity) Your first kiss  Your first date Starting a job (especially your first one) Resigning and leaving a company af...

My biggest regret is not making more friends in college. As we speak, I only have three strong in-person friendships. I've known one guy for 12 years, the other for 15, and the third one since kindergarten. The rest of my friends are merely acquaintances -- people you say hi to on Facebook every once in a while or see only at special occasions. I'm the type of person who would rather have 3 really strong friendships than a slew of superficial convenience-type ones. Still, it would have been interesting to make at least a couple more friends in college and see if those bonds would stand the test of time, distance, and change of lifestyle. Let's face it. After college, our lives change, as do we. And once a spouse and kids are thrown into the picture, we may not have as much time left over for friends. Family comes first. I'm thankful for the opportunity to make so many online friends through this blog. I consider you all more than readers -- you're true frien...