It’s been over month since I started to learn how to code using Ruby on Rails. It was intended to be a motivational tool to kick off learning something new every month and it has turned into something I wouldn’t have expected. Since I’ve been doing it I have felt more creative and far more fulfilled than I would’ve imagined. I keep pushing through online course after online course, focusing and dedicating myself to learning as much as I can. The results of which have been numerous inspirational ideas for web applications that I plan on developing and launching. Jumping in headfirst and dedicating myself to this has been very rewarding.
The things I’ve noticed since I started this have been bursts of creativity, inspiration, and motivation. Far more than what I have when I’m at my normal 9-5 job. I see the time I spend at work as the time where I am not accomplishing anything of value. There was a time where I felt like my job was fulfilling me to the fullest and I came home satisfied. That has changed over the years but even more so in the last few months. Now my job seems more to be like a distraction from what I actually want to be doing. It takes me out of the environment that I have been thriving in and it pulls me away from the knowledge I so greedily consume. I’ve come to realize that maybe what I’m doing on a daily basis isn’t what I’m suppose to be doing but it was merely a stepping stone towards what I’m meant to do. The more I work this job and the more I code, the less I can see myself doing this job or working for a faceless uncaring corporation.
There are moments of creativity in my current position but they are few and far between and being creative is what I desire the most. The problem with my current job is that I am a person of both logical procedural calculated thought and also a person of creative out-of-the-box thinking with a massively vivid imagination, while I’m at my job I typically only use the logical calculated portion of who I am and seldom ever use the creative portion of who I am. The result of this is I end my day feeling unfulfilled and my talents wasted. Then there is coding and more specifically Ruby on Rails, full stack development or web developer (whatever you want to call it or categorize it as), it gives me the chance to both think logically and creatively effectively satisfying and fulfilling both my personality characteristics.
At the end of the day what I want more than anything else is to go to sleep feeling satisfied, accomplished, fulfilled, happy, and most importantly excited to do it all over again. This exploration of new things has taught me that when you try new things you discover new things about yourself. That was the pursuit, I wanted to learn more about who I am, and I suppose that is a crazy thing to contemplate at 27 years old but really do we ever truly know who we are? Each time I go out and learn something new it’s like another piece of the puzzle gets put into place allowing me to see the bigger picture all the more clearer. It’s why I wanted to pursue my creative self and that’s exactly why I’ve encouraged people to follow suit and explore new avenues of your life. You may be surprised what you will find. I know I am certainly surprised to the things that I have discovered on a fairly regular basis since I started out with all of this stuff. Go forth and learn something new, be amazing, find out who you are and what makes you happy. Then make sure every night you go to bed you have the sense of satisfaction and excitement to do it all over again tomorrow.