The Easiest Way to Become a Living Fossil? Stop Learning.

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By Suchitra Sairam

When you’ve been doing something for a long time, people assume you have it all figured out.

  • “This must be easy for you by now.”
  • “Why still go to class if you’ve been performing and teaching for decades?”
  • “You’ve been performing and teaching for so long, you’ve probably seen it all.”

I smile. Because here’s what they don’t see: the moment I stop learning, I start fossilizing.

The moment I lose my curiosity or think I’ve “arrived,” I’ve lost. And I refuse to become a relic in my own practice.

Yes, I have confidence in my abilities, thanks to years of experience, experimentation, mistakes, and commitment to honing a craft. But the confidence is built on the humility to keep showing up like I know nothing.

Long ago, I made a quiet vow to return to spaces with the same posture I had as a child – open, eager, curious, and uncertain.

When I attend dance or music class now, I listen closely – as if I’m brand new. Not just to the material, but to the pauses, the phrasing, the breath between instructions. A subtle correction, a different emphasis, a story tucked between the lines of poetry might unlock something I hadn’t seen before.

That one shift can reshape how I understand, embody, teach, and present something.

Yes, I teach. But I focus on learning first. This isn’t performative humility. It’s discipline and practice not to prove, but to explore.

Begin Poorly to End Well

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

– Zig Ziglar

We often avoid starting because we assume things will end badly. The truth is: things are guaranteed to start poorly.

That’s how growth works.

Art invites us to embrace this truth without shame or spectacle. No applause. Just a quiet step forward, again and again.

Start poorly. End well.

Mastery is a Loop, not a Line

“The expert in anything was once a beginner.”
— Helen Hayes

An arts journey doesn’t chase linear “arrival points.” It honors the spiral. We…

  • Find new layers in familiar forms
  • Revisit basics with deeper awareness
  • Gain expertise through unlearning and re-seeing

Each return to practice is an act of trust in process, not perfection. We don’t keep learning because we’re unsure.

We keep learning because we care.

Beginner’s Mindset is Steady Practice, Not Naïve Wonder

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s, there are few.”
— Shunryu Suzuki

Eastern philosophies brim with the virtues of the beginner mindset. They create a discipline of returning to the same material, practice, or situation with new eyes. In fact, they value it.

  • In Zen, curiosity, openness, and lack of preconceptions define shoshin
  • Bala, the Sanskrit word for child, encourages a state of wonder, sincerity, clarity and receptivity.
  • In Indian philosophy, abhyāsa (steady, consistent effort over time), and vairāgya (non-attachment to outcomes or ego)

When we show up eager to learn, not prove, we stay alive to surprise, nuance, and depth.