A Merit Badge in Adulting

I wonder where my Girl Scout sash is. 

My mother would not have thrown it away—she was proud of all those little circles. She was the one who sewed them on in perfect straight lines.

I earned all the typical badges when I was 9, 10, and 11 years old—such as First Aid, Outdoor Cooking, Horse Lover, Troop Camping, and Wildlife. 

In the ’80s, GSUSA updated the badge book to make the options more contemporary and added Computer Fun. This one had 00111 1001 on it. I interviewed my neighbor who was one of the founders of Byte Magazine for it and learned about binary code.

As I was thinking about my badge sash lately, I thought how fun it would be if as adults we could earn badges for mastering something or exploring and trying new things.

As an adult, I would definitely earn Tennis. 

And Yoga. 

And Hiking! 

Maybe even Life Coaching. 

And Non-Profit Consulting.

I looked up the badge list offered in Girl Scouting today. And guess what? They now have Automotive Engineering, Robotics, Coding, Mechanical Engineering, and Math in Nature.

Whaaaat? 

There are badges for Digital Game Design and Cybersecurity Investigator and Automotive Engineering and Designing Robots. And Inside Government and Business Jumpstart. For Cadettes, the older girls, badges include Special Agent and Public Speaker and Netiquette and Woodworker.

And Science of Happiness.

I want that badge! Science of Happiness!

An example activity girls do to earn this badge is: “Count three blessings; Get a journal and write down, record video or audio what three things that you are grateful for each day over a course of 1-14 days.  What did you identify? Did identifying what you’re thankful for make you happy?”

What a great exercise. Many of my clients write daily in a Gratitude Journal.

I learned in Girl Scouting that I could do anything. I studied crabs in a tide pool, learned the proper way to fold an American flag, how to make peanut soup, or how to cook in a cardboard box.

But these girls are learning even way more than I did. 

I would love to learn about Cybersecurity or Designing Robots. Or Entrepreneurism or the Science of Happiness.

Learning is what keeps us evolving and developing as human beings.

It helps us to remember that there is a great big world out there—that is asking for our attention and focus. But it also helps us to remember that there is a great big world in here—inside our bodies, hearts, and minds.

And just because we may be adults now, it doesn’t mean we have any less to learn. 

In fact, we may have even more to learn. In adulting, we are in a constant phase of learning and unlearning and learning and unlearning and making room for more. 

The unlearning is important too. 

I thought I earned some badges before, but I am still figuring them out. As in when to speak and when to listen. How to be an inspiring leader. A badge about codependency. A badge about justice and equity.

I would love to earn a badge about Joy. How to practice it—and to have more of it. 

And Meditation. Maybe Self-Care. Pottery. And Cetaceans—how cool if there were a badge about Whales!

Indian philosopher and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti said, “There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.”

It is this learning that makes us come alive as humans.

And as Krishnamurti said, even as we die, we learn about what it means to die.

I have a friend who is learning to speak Greek. Or others who are diving deep into a new artistic medium or learning how to play a new sport or earn a certification for a different career.

What badge would you love to stich on your life sash?

What learning would bring you the greatest joy?

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