Reflection

I was surfing the internet the other day when I came across the below image on the A Cup of Jo website. It’s titled “How Much I Think I Know” and is illustrated by Mari Andrew. It really resonated with me.

How Much I Think I Know by Mari Andrew

How Much Do I Think I Know?

As I reflect on my life and growing up, I can only laugh at how much I continually realize I do not know. As an adolescent, a teenager, and in my early 20s, I thought I knew everything. EVERYTHING. There was no way anyone could tell me that I was wrong or that they understood or that I would gain perspective and look back on this time differently. I thought I knew everything. But I didn’t.

It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I began to gain more insight. Insight from personal experience and also insight from a willingness to look at the world from other perspectives than those that came most easily to me. I’m 30 now and can very openly say that there is a lot I don’t know. But instead of seeing that as a weakness, I see it as a strength.

Not knowing is okay. Actually, I think it’s much more than okay. We are not meant to know everything or understand everything. Rather, I think as we grow older (or at least, as I grow other) there is a sort of comfort in not knowing. Or perhaps, a comfort in knowing that there are some things I don’t know and it’s ok to ask others their opinions or thoughts or to share their experience to perhaps inform mine.

As I get older, I hope that I maintain this perspective. I believe it is an asset to be able to say, “I don’t know.” Not because you’re not intelligent, but because we cannot be an expert in everything, and should rely on the experience, knowledge, and wisdom from others to help move ourselves a little further along each day.

There is a lot I don’t know. And I’m okay with that.