There’s a designated tutor room I can sit in at Uni. It includes 24 hot desks where tutors can sit and work in a quiet atmosphere interrupted only by the tapping of keyboards and the occasional sounds of a student consultation.

I never like to sit there. It’s too quiet and for some reason I feel isolated, even though I am surrounded by other tutors.

Instead you will find me sitting in common areas, on floors and in foyers where the students mill around laughing as they travel to or from class, or sit mulling intently over some image on their laptop that I cannot see. There is energy in them I think and part of me connects to that energy and expands because of it.

I am not a student and not one of them. But being around them makes me feel revitalised and my spirits are lifted. Just being around the right energy can make my day a whole lot better.

And when I’m in a class where students respond and participate in discussions and share their ideas, I am lifted even further. Their thirst to know and grow is inspiring and joyful. So often we forget that feeling, that desire to learn, and it is wonderful to be reminded every time I step on campus.

They are not paragons of virtue, of course. None of us are. They are frequently flawed procrastinators (not unlike me), juggling jobs, uni and friends with hopeless time management and sometimes less than optimal results. But they remind me of something precious…that our capacity to expand never really leaves us. Many of us try to vanquish that desire within us. ‘I am too busy to do that’ or I’m too old to learn’ or ‘When would I ever use that’, we will say to ourselves and others when the desire to do something new beckons us into unknown territory. We fear the possibility that we might fail or look stupid.

But being around these students of all ages reminds me somehow that it is never too late to learn, to grow, or to learn something new.

And it is never too late for you either.