🎓 "We refuse to let the current version of our lives be the final version."
That sentence from the Harvard Extension School Commencement speech has stayed with me.
A month ago, I attended my Harvard University graduation ceremony for a Master's in Anthropology & Archaeology, my third master's degree. I started it during the COVID lockdown… "for fun." Somehow, that also ended with a place on the Dean's List for Academic Achievement.
🗿The truth is, I never completely got over wanting to be Indiana Jones. Most people eventually outgrow that dream. Mine simply evolved into ethnographic fieldwork in the foothills of the Himalayas, dozens of academic papers, and considerably fewer ancient temples and cracks of the whip than I'd been promised.
And yes, despite the all-nighters, the flights spent reading and writing, and the privilege of living alongside isolated tribes in the mountains of China, it genuinely was fun!
I've always believed that learning doesn't need to be justified. Not every pursuit has to make you richer, faster, or more successful. In this case, learning for the sake of learning was reason enough. Curiosity is one of the few investments that always changes the person making it.
Ironically, this degree "for fun" ended up making me better at my job too. Anthropology didn't teach me how to operate senior living communities, but it deepened my understanding of the people we serve. Different discipline, same questions: how people adapt when their world changes, what traditions they preserve, which ones they reinvent, and how communities continue to thrive across generations. I never expected those synergies, but I'm grateful they found me.
Perhaps that's the real value of learning. You rarely end up exactly where you expected, but if you stay curious enough, you almost always end up somewhere worth being.
Thank you to Chanelle Ohayon-Crosby, Oriana, Jonas, my friends and colleagues for patiently putting up with countless "just one more paper" and "sorry, I can't, I have a deadline." I know I probably tested your patience at times. I hope I've made you proud!
Thank you to my professors, especially Prof. Joe Henrich and Dr. Richard Martin, who constantly challenged me intellectually.
Here's to refusing to let the current version of ourselves be the final one… and to chasing a few more childhood dreams along the way. 🎩
Credit for the commencement quote: Theo Rowley.
First published on LinkedIn, June 30, 2026. View the original post.