So here's my suggestion: trust me enough to try it. Options are
endless. There are practical classes (what to do when the next disaster
strikes; how to fly-fish, etc), and there are fascinating,
intellectually-stimulating classes (how did the early Christians evolve their
idea that Jesus was god; how did dinosaurs evolve into birds; how to write
engaging travel stories for your family to enjoy).
What they
all have in common is that they are engaging (you are thinking about them, not
politics, the bills, your teenagers, your boss or the job market), and they are
FUN. When you spend time having fun and
learning, as opposed to fun that you’ve done many times before (watch football
on TV), you make more areas in your brain work. You particularly make your hippocampus, where
memory is stored, work hard. The harder
it works, the larger it gets. New
neurons emerge from neuronal stem cells if you work your hippocampus
enough. [Stress kills neurons and
shrinks your hippocampus.]
As you move through life, you tend to get into habits and routines, so
your brain starts to “coast.” When you
are not learning new things, you invite cognitive decline to make a home, a
process that doesn’t wait until you are in your 60s, please note! I totally get why most of us don’t want to go
into Learner Mode. A Learner, by definition, hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. Do you
enjoy that lost and clueless feeling?
No, course, not. THAT, dear
friends, more than the “I don’t have time to have fun” is the real reason why
Learning isn’t compelling. If we’re honest,
those of us who “don’t have time” do make time for sitcoms and sports.
Do you have any idea how many dinosaur species you get to
learn about and try to remember in the Paleontology: How Therapod Dinosaurs
Became Birds class from U of Alberta on Coursera? A lot. I wasn’t taking it for a grade, so who
cares how many times I take the tests before I get it? Just trying to remember as much as possible
was enough of a workout to kick my hippocampus’ butt. Man, was that fascinating! Hubby and I couldn’t tear ourselves away,
every evening for a week. And it was
FREE.
You want your hippocampus as robust as possible if you are
going to avoid Alzheimer’s, and besides, learning is FUN.
So here’s my challenge to you all: One night this week, turn the TV off, get the kids to do their chores, and sit down at your Internet and research:
So here’s my challenge to you all: One night this week, turn the TV off, get the kids to do their chores, and sit down at your Internet and research:
· ** Coursera – where I do my dinosaur study, and
many others learn history, language, writing, and on and on. Most classes are FREE. I've learned from Laura.com, but that's mostly work-related, not fun. I have heard good things about Udemy, but haven't taken anything there.
· ** The Great Courses – which aren’t free, but are
regularly discounted, and many libraries carry some of them. I bought How Jesus Became God and was
amazingly enlightened at hundreds of years of conceptual evolution on just
exactly who Jesus was, and if he was god, when he became god. Whatever your actual beliefs, the history is
can’t-stop-listening engrossing.
· ** Local community centers – where you can try something entirely
different to give your hippocampus a real workout. How about art? [Can’t do it?
Great. Skilled is what you are
when you FINISH, not before you start!]
You can sign up for exercise classes while you’re at it. My community center has a water slide that is
open on Saturday mornings. Just try to
convince me that’s not fun. You can’t. Your head is shaking but your lips are
curving up in an unconscious smile. You know how much fun it
is.
· ** Local community colleges will let you attend
some classes without a grade. If you
want to attend Over 55/Senior college, you can, even if you’re not quite that
experienced with life. You don’t have to
dye your hair grey and the yearly fee is only $125 in my town.
The key is to set aside your performance anxiety and your reluctance
to be clumsy and dopey (as one of my clients put it). Not knowing what you’re doing is the fog that
clears as you work at it. Working your
brain and having fun doing it is the greatest rejuvenator of tired minds,
hearts and souls, second only to physical exercise. I combine the two by looking through
crochet-pattern and art-instruction books while I fast-walk on a treadmill, 4
days a week. [The other three I splash
and laugh in water aerobics classes. Not
too much learning, but lots of movement; laughter reduces my cortisol load as
well.] When I emerge from my dinosaurs,
or my crochet-treadmill, or my splashing, I have such a surge of energy, the “lost
time” is more than made up in increased cleverness in solving problems and
getting tasks done, and the enthusiasm to embrace all the boring and/or scary
parts. It’s easy to plunge in and just
git ‘er done, when you have so much fun to get back to!
Next week: pick something to learn.
Week after: start it. Get through the initial discomfort to break through to the “wow, that’s cool.” The discomfort that has been scaring you for years might only last a minute!
Want to discover more ways to have fun with the same 24 hours you have now? Call for a FREE Getting Unstuck session (not a sales pitch). www.soaringdragon.biz
