Quit Telling Yourself You’re Too Old to Learn New Things
Do this instead. Learning new information and skills is one of the healthiest things we can do for our aging brains.
A recent story in the monthly AARP Magazine kicked off with the contributor, Renee Brinkerhoff, saying this:
“One day, at age 55, I said to myself, ‘I’m’ going to race a car.’ I knew nothing about cars but I had to go do it.”
She didn’t continue with the story of how she realized she was “too old” to take on learning about cars and racing or about how scared she was to look dumb and possibly fail at this new experience.
No, she told the story of how she got out there, immersed herself in learning, and about a year later participated in a seven-day 2,000-mile rally race through Mexico. And then went on to win races and create a nonprofit group for which her team participates in fundraising races (thus far raising $700,000).
Brinkerhoff’s story is just one of many about great leaps into learning -- and mastering -- a new skill or taking on a new passion project by people in what is the latter half of life. In fact, there are so many stories of people over 40 becoming first-time authors, actors, musicians, artists, podcasters, software creators, inventors, and more that the worn-out chestnut about how “you can’t teach an old dog new…
