The Layers of Researching

The older I get I seem to love researching on random information. I imagine their are many reasons for this, but the most distinctive one is that it foster's self learning. Each time anything grabs your attention it is a healthy implication that your interests surpass the scope of your everyday routine. It reflects self-autonomy and a desire to discover and reveal self actualization.

Although I admit the last module on researching was not the easiest assignment for me. For some reason I had the worst case of writer's block. I eventually was able to find the words I wanted to voice, at least in a first draft kind of way. Little by little I found myself peeling away the layers of myself and the preferences I have developed up to this point. The assignment forced me to open that door and to take the first step inside to an otherwise untraveled terrain of myself.

I learned a little about history, art, and the many niches that fall under the genre of photography. Abraham Maslow defines self-actiualization in, A Theory of Human Motivation, to be

"the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualized in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming."

Researching not only fulfills a curiosity for something, it also permits for self-growth. Through researching I scaled my chosen niche down to Editorial Photography. Even though I am declaring this to be my niche now, I recognize the likelihood it will evolve or it will change completely. Only time will tell as I continue on with my journey.