When Curiosity Refuses to Leave
- Mark Johnson
- Feb 18
- 4 min read
I was a very inquisitive child. Not casually curious. Relentless.
I would ask question after question after question — the kind that exhaust adults who are just trying to get through the day.
How does that work?
How does that happen?
Where is that place?
Who decided that?
What comes next?
But why mom?
My mom loved me, but she also needed relief, lol. Eventually she would say, “Mark… please go sit down somewhere.”
But one day, instead of just quieting the noise, she made a decision that would permanently alter the trajectory of my life. 🙏🏾
She bought a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica. And she told me something simple — something that sounds ordinary but was revolutionary:
“The answers to your questions are in those volumes.”
That moment changed everything.
Because my curiosity suddenly had a home. I didn’t have to stop asking questions. I had somewhere safe to go with them.
Contrast that with today’s environment. There were no notifications competing for my focus. No algorithm deciding what I should care about next. No endless scroll training my brain to consume without thinking.
There was space.
Space to stay curious.
Space to follow a question past the first answer.
Space to sit with confusion long enough for understanding to emerge.
Attention was slower — but it was deeper.
And depth compounds.
Today, the environment is different.
We live inside a frenzy of interruption. Information arrives faster than reflection. Children (really all of us) are exposed to more content than any generation in history, yet are given fewer opportunities to stay with an idea long enough for it to shape them.
The scroll replaces page turning.
Reaction replaces curiosity.
Breadth replaces depth.
And the cost is subtle but enormous: the erosion of sustained attention — the very muscle that builds mastery, creativity, and independent thinking.
Those floor years trained something in me that I didn’t recognize at the time: the ability to stay.
To stay with a question.
To stay with a problem.
To stay with learning after novelty fades.
That skill is now rare. And rarity creates advantage.
So I laid on the living room floor. And I read.
Not because anyone assigned it.
Not because there was a test.
Not because it was impressive.
I read because I wanted to understand the world.
That’s where my real knowledge expansion began. But more importantly, that’s where my life expansion began. You see, knowledge is power. And power is a motive force. A motive force moves things, and so too does knowledge!
Most people think success starts with opportunity.
It doesn’t.
It starts with attention.
With fascination.
With the willingness to stay in the question longer than other people do.
Those Britannica volumes were more than information. They were permission — permission to think bigger than my environment, permission to discover places I had never seen, permission to believe that the world was accessible to me if I was willing to learn how it worked.
Information became freedom.
And something subtle but powerful happened on that carpet:
I started building identity before I had language for it.
I wasn’t just reading facts.
I was rehearsing possibility.
Here’s what people misunderstand about curiosity:
It’s not soft.
It’s not passive.
It’s not a personality trait.
Curiosity is a form of agency.
It says, I don’t have to stay limited by what I currently know.
It says, there is more available than what’s immediately visible.
It says, my future is expandable.
That belief compounds.
The child who keeps asking questions becomes the adult who refuses shallow answers and finds breakthrough ideas!
The kid who reads becomes the leader who connects dots others don’t see.
The person who stays curious stays dangerous — in the best possible way because they keep evolving…
But that’s the formula most people overlook.
Massive lives are built in quiet repetitions that nobody applauds.
Page after page.
Question after question.
Answer after answer.
Thought after thought.
Opportunity didn’t create my trajectory. Curiosity did.
Opportunity simply arrived later and found me prepared.
If you’re trying to change your life, don’t start by chasing bigger chances.
Start by protecting your questions.
Follow what fascinates you.
Learn beyond what’s required.
Stay in conversations longer than comfort suggests.
Expose yourself to ideas that stretch your identity.
Because curiosity is willpower’s first expression.
It’s the decision to keep looking.
And if curiosity refuses to leave, growth has no choice but to show up.
I didn’t know it at nine years old, laying on the livingroom floor with an encyclopedia open in front of me. But I was building the foundation of everything that has come after.
My life was transformed, and that transformation journey is source from which my wisdom quotes emanate.
Not success.
Not status.
Not achievement.
Knowdge Expansion. Growth. Transformation.
And knowledge expansion changes everything…
If there’s one thing I would encourage parents to consider, it’s this:
Create places in your home where curiosity can live longer than distraction.
My mom didn’t give me a lecture about discipline or achievement. She gave me access. She invested in a set of encyclopedias and pointed me toward them. She created an alternative to noise.
She made learning visible, physical, reachable.
In today’s world, that decision might look countercultural — even old-fashioned. But the principle is timeless.
Putting static knowledge within arm’s reach makes exploration normal. It encourages boredom long enough for curiosity to wake up.
May I boldly suggest encyclopedias specifically as a way to accomplish this? They provide an intentional space that invites depth and study instead of endless consumption.
The one still actively produced in print is World Book. And you can get a set for under $1,000, or even less if you buy a used set of either Brittanica or World Book.
You see, when a child learns that answers can be pursued rather than delivered, something powerful happens:
They begin to trust their own thinking.
And that changes a life.
Thank you mom!
Mark Johnson
Feb 2026
This is a great read.
As a first time parent, I understand the concept of exploration, imagination, and inquisitive thinking. This is why my spouse and I read a book to our twins every night before putting them to bed. Additionally, we have dedicated space to allow them to explore and utilize their minds for critical thinking. We know this is important for many developmental reasons. We limit their access to screens to prevent delayed developmental patterns that have been studied in recent years.
Are there not many other parents that do what we’re doing?
Regardless, this was well written and hits the mark for sure!