Education Never Stops.

From sun up to sun down, every day is a lesson to be learned.

Every minute; a class in session.

Every second; a lesson being taught.

The question is, Are you taking notes?

With every moment passing are you taking in the sights; the surroundings; the little nuggets of wisdom that pass by so subtly they almost don’t exist?

How about using those menial mistakes as reference material on pushing forward and building upon the person you know your potential has in stock?

The learning didn’t stop after the last math test we turned in and got a C.

The learning didn’t end after handing over that last history exam which followed hours, minutes, and seconds of drilling in information regarding 18th century Britain, it’s rulers, and it’s origins.

Perhaps it was the end of gym class, popularity contests, and bagged lunches, but actually when I think about it those are pretty ongoing as well.

No, education is still going strong.

Education is ongoing and consistent. Education never leaves us. We are currently a product of the lessons we’ve learned from (or didn’t learn from) to this point in life.

From the moment our eyes open, our feet hit the carpet, and we trudge out of our bed covers’ warmth to the moment we effortlessly climb back into bed after a long day of experience, of trial, error, and tribulation; between those two points lie the information we now have in reference to make our next decisions in the next 24 hours and counting.

Even our dreams are known to throw out bits of wisdom or two if we’re willing to take the time to reflect and deduce.

Yes, we learned a bunch of different things about a bunch of different subjects from preschool to 8th grade, to senior year of high school and so on by bashing our heads in with the plethora of different subjects our teachers and professors threw at us. Though a large part of our education, that was really only a tiny fraction of it.

A shifty-eyed character approaches from the front. Something in me suggests I move about twenty feet to the right and to act quickly. As the lost soul passes you hear the murmur of a two-way conversation between a single man takes place — both sides attacking each other in a threatening tone. Sure enough the murmur turns into a violent yell followed by flailing arms and legs directed at an innocent passerby who wasn’t taking notes of her surroundings. She wasn’t harmed, only alarmed. But it could have been a lot worse.

Shifty eyes equals keep distance.

Intuition was followed. Education never stops.

The manager at my restaurant job mutters one last inappropriate remark — the straw that breaks the camel’s back. I lose my cool, flip out, and react out of anger and frustration. I’ve now learned how to both make an ass of myself in front of an establishment and everyone inside while simultaneously learning how not to keep employment (or dignity for that matter).

Education never stops.

I spend the last 13 years basking in bad decision after bad decision largely fueled by drug and alcohol addiction. After a long and arduous battle of the senses I finally (finally) raise the white flag and surrender to the absolute need for outside help. Rehabilitation, though at first reluctant to attend, paves way to a life of recovery. Life begins to straight up transform into a quality never perceived as imaginable. I learn that anything is possible if I’m absolutely willing to work for it.

Education never stops.

I enroll in the engineering program at the local university in order to pursue a stable career. I spend nearly 4 years expanding my mind with math and science until I get to the point where I realize i am bored out of my mind. I scratch any career option regarding math and science off of the list.

Education.

In getting into an electrical construction apprenticeship program where I’m paid to learn, I learn how to make a comfortable living with a reasonably low barrier to entry. Through the blood, sweat, and tears it takes to work the trades I learn that even though the money is great, money isn’t everything. I now begin to realize that whatever I do decide to pursue in the long run my heart must be in it 120%.

Never stops.

The long commutes to the various job sites allow for a ton of time marinating thoughts inside my head. It doesn’t take long on these drives for me to finally realize that what I needed to be doing with my life was with me all along.

I needed to be an artist.

I needed to follow my long-lost dream of building a clothing company that uses cloth as the canvas to feature my artwork; my mind; my being.

I learned to never again question where my heart was truly pointing.

Education.

Never stops.

Day to day life creates our education.

Every decision we make leads us to the next where the countless options are there for the choosing and the countless paths are there for the taking. If we’re smart and utilize our education, our frames of reference, we can continue to narrow down our options until ultimately that life that was meant for us begins to_find_ us_._

And the life that was meant for us is the life we choose, if we’re willing to put in the work to take it.

Since no two people have the same life experience, no two educations match. We each have our own frame of reference to pull from, to use, and to manifest into our own life and to the lives of others. Through following the better, smarter part of our education we then get to build upon the life we never imagined possible prior to proactively paying attention.

Our experience is our education.

What did you learn today?

If you resonate with the message behind the Education Never Stops design and would like to grab the shirt, you can get it straight from amtcco.com/products/ens