What to do after High School?: Teach Yourself

I went back and forth with the title of this entry. I was torn between Learn and Independent Study. Well neither one of them won, but I think this title incorporates both of them very nicely. Throughout this "What to do after High School?" series, I aim share with all soon to be grads of both high school and college that you have many options to choose from. Sometimes you may want to take the road less traveled but you don't know where to start. Moving on to the topic of today: Teaching Yourself! Did you have a favorite subject in school? Did you love going to a specific class everyday? Is there a subject that you wanted to explore more, but couldn't in school? Have you always found a specific topic or subject interesting? Well now is your time to learn all about it. You graduated. You may or may not go to college. You probably work or have your own business. Now you can learn everything you have ever wanted to know about whatever subject or topic you like. Write yourself lesson plans. Personalize your learning experience however you like. Go to your local library, bookstore, even thrift store and find books on the subject matter that you are studying. Teach yourself, teach yourself everything about said subject that you want to know. Let's say you've been interested in gardening, but you always had to sit in a classroom to actually learn about gardening. Now you can go to the library, bookstore, outside and learn all about plants, flowers, soil, etc. If this was a topic I was into, I would go to the gardening section of Lowe's or Walmart and even a flower shop to not only admire but to take notes. I would spend lots of time in nature. There are plenty of books on whatever topic that gets your blood pumping on the internet, so the internet is always an option for learning. My point is: never stop learning and learn about what you love. You could use your knowledge to advance in your chosen career. Don't forget your writing utensils and notepads or just use electronic note taking.