Homework Forever

How much schooling did you end up doing? Once I graduated with my BA, I was done. I helped my husband get his masters. And I watched other family members go on to earn more degrees. But I figured I had enough.
After all, what else was there to learn?

Excuse me while I laugh at my naivete.

In the past, we used to have a preacher who would say, "If you're not growing, you're dying." It's rather a morbid thought, isn't it? And we definitely don't want to apply it to our waistline. But think about it. There's a lot of truth in the statement.

Stagnation kills organisms. If you sit on the couch forever and don't do anything, eventually your body is going to become completely unhealthy and quit. If you refuse to use your brain to read or think or anything more than a place to hold your hat, it's not going to be able to work through problems you might face down the road.
Same thing goes for writing. If I'm not still trying to learn and stretch and grow, my writing might stay good, but it will never improve or become better.
I had another author friend mention that someone had commented on a social media post of hers that it was the best thing she'd ever written. And she was worried that if it was the best thing she'd ever done (a short post that took two years of thinking about), what was the point of writing anything else?
I pointed out that it was a good thing because you're supposed to get better. Sure, the first things you write might be good. But don't you want to be even better? To be to the point where people are actively wanting more?
I do. And I would like to think I'm improving everyday.
But I'm still frustrated that my editor has given me homework lately--a couple of craft books to read to improve me even more. Because I really though homework would end when I earned my degree.
Silly me. Homework is forever.
Are you still trying to improve? What are some ways you have found help to stretch yourself?