Been There, Done That

One of the biggest challenges I've discovered as I've grown older is dealing with boredom.

Let me elaborate.

After so many decades of life things tend to get routine and if not careful they can become boring.

Each day tends to be like every other day. Get up, dress, eat, tend to chores around the house, shop, come home, watch TV, read a book, maybe go for a walk, watch some more TV and go to bed.

Day after day after day. It's easy to get caught up in a mundane routine.

While I don't pretend to know everything certain activities can get tedious and repetitive. Reading for example.

After reading so many mysteries, westerns and other forms of fictional literature you start to notice a pattern. You find yourself skipping though pages and nine times out ten you never finish a book because you've already figured out what will happen.

The same thing goes for TV shows and movies.

Conversations become a chore. Mostly because you're tired of hearing other peoples' same old stories, as well as your own.  It's too easy to get a one track mind. You get tired of your own voice.

Exercise, travel, family, friends, social activities, entertainment, etc. can all take a hit and become commonplace and repetitive.

But, knowing this there is a way (or ways) to stay active and alive. Here are just few examples:

• Break your routine. Change your day-to-day activities.  Sleep late, get up early, exercise in the morning instead of the evening. Read more non-fiction books. Challenge your mind to learn new things.
• Don't be afraid of changes. Accept them, enjoy them and move on. Shake things up a bit. Reject regrets.
  
• Meet new people, travel to places you've never been before and do things you never imagined.
• Go back to school-earn a degree. Get a part-time job.  Volunteer for a cause you believe in.
  
• Learn new things. Take up music or dance lessons. Try new activities. Go to an opera. Take in a play. Slow down, enjoy each moment. Get tired, work hard, play hard.
  
• After all, you're older. You have nothing to prove. Take up art. Start writing. Begin a journal. Document your life for future generations to read. Downsize. Don't hold onto 'things'.  Impulse buy once in awhile. 
• Try a new wardrobe. Get in shape. Try new foods. Challenge yourself. Push yourself. Love more. Give more. Live more.
• You only have one life-enjoy it. Be kind, trust people, attend church or a club. Get to know people you normally wouldn't hang out with. Don't act your age. Laugh. Cherish every moment.
• Let people know you care about them. Help a friend. Buy someone lunch. Give a gift.
• Stand up for what you believe.  Never be afraid. No one is better than you and you're no better than anyone else.  We're all equal in God's eyes. Forgive others. Forgive yourself.
  
• Take the time to really listen, see, feel. Take in the aromas of life. Taste and eat food you've never eaten before.
• If you're not into professional sports, give them a try-you may like them. Make the library you're second home.  Read, read, read. Learn all you can. Keep moving. If you don't use it, you lose it.
  
• Appreciate your talents and strengths. Don't worry about what you can't do. Appreciate other people's talents and gifts.
  
• Your body may be getting older but your spirit is still young. Face it, we are little more than dirt or ashes in the wind.
• Get dirty and make an 'ash' of yourself. Learn to laugh at yourself. Forget the past, don't dread the future, embrace now.
• Love God, your family, your friends and strangers. Learn to see the value of every human life.
• Don't gossip. tell the truth even though sometimes it hurts.  See yourself for who you are. Never pretend to be someone you're not. Admit your mistakes, apologize if you're in the wrong.
  
• Dare to be yourself. It doesn't matter if no one else likes what your like. You have no need to apologize.
• Appreciate what others enjoy. Give them some space and slack.

I could go on.  It's too easy to get in a rut, especially when you get older. 

I'm 70 years old.  

One of my favorite sayings is, "I may be getting older, but at least I'm immature."

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." — Galatians 3:28