How Young Do I Want To Be??

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Many that have read my blog for some time and those that have known me personally before I knew what a blog was, will readily remember that I have hated, many times quite passionately, what I call the learning curve. I have whined more than a few times, that the programmers should just leave my programs alone, they work for me, I am fine with them the way the are, thank you very much.

But nothing remains the same, my daddy always told me that, and on many levels of my psyche I believed him, however, somehow when it came to my techy software and the internet I fought that theory.

After many, many, moons and even more moans, I for some reason decided I was going to try a new approach, that of, and you might want to sit down for this, embracing the learning curve. My theory was, not that of, "if you cannot beat em, join them", but rather the one of, "well maybe this will keep my brain functioning and maybe help keep me young".  I hear you laughing.

So, I have been complaining less (for the most part, there are exceptions to this as well) and concentrating more on learning, stretching my comfort zones.

I have been doing this with software, web sites and with groups that I interact with, such as groups on Facebook and people I have circled at Google Plus. Social media stretches.

And, it is the social media that has proven to be probably the most challenging of all my stretching exercises. I am no spring chicken anymore and I found myself having thoughts that sounded to me like, well, old people thoughts.

So, I consciously exposed myself to younger ones on the social media scene. And, those that live different sorts of lives, with a lot of different interests from my usual fare. Many young families, where their focus is on having babies and potty training. Many families of all ages who are living and eating differently, gluten free, dairy free, and some names of diets that I have not ONE clue as to what they are talking about. Many families living different life styles, some are traveling and living in different countries even with very young children. I have read about families with bunches of kids, having numerous pets and living in a tent. They are working around the world in some fascinating places, and some places, that frankly, scare the beejeebies out of me.

I have been stretching my acceptance, trying to understand, reading about their struggles and their successes.

So, how have I been doing?? Well, mixed. I find myself fascinated and sometimes appalled and sometimes seriously concerned for them. I admit, I am having trouble reading about them when some of them are what I consider to be homeless (they don’t call it that, what positive outlooks they have) or jobless, or well, broke.

I am still not sure how I feel about this experiment of mine, but, found myself un-subscribing to a few groups recently. Maybe it is the horrible heat wave, but, I found I was no longer able to emotionally read about their struggles, it just hurt too much. Guess I pushed that comfort zone a bit too far.

And, all that said, I keep fighting to keep an open mind, to expand, to grow, to stay young.

I keep asking myself, just how young do you want to be??

Answer - - have no idea, guess I’ll go back out and continue to try to find the answer.




*  Graphic courtesy of clipartheaven.com
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