Ive been trying to figure out a way to begin to blog into your lives, maybe how to blog into my own life. I have lots of questions and not many answers, lots of life experience but no road map for how to apply it. I'm a dj, as some of you have figured out and i have been for 30 years...on a dj site I visit most days this post showed up this weekend(see below) I was amazed at its timing yet it feels shallow in its simplicity...but a place to start. This isn't my original writing and I dont know its source although it seems to be a "collection of thoughts" around aging. Most of the dj's are much younger than me at 47, many of you are older than me and I value your opinions. My goal is to start a discussion...
please add your thoughts...
Here is the post-author unknown
Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key
You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life .. . You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.
But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.
You've built up so much speed that youHIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30 ; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST92."
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!
HOW TO STAY YOUNG
1. Throw out nonessential numbers.This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them."
2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.
4. Enjoy the simple things.
5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.
10.Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,but by the moments that take our breath away.
posted by feywon
i've seen the posts you quote before as seperate riffs. i'm pretty sure the first one is a variation on a George Carlin routine.
i have to refer to a couple of my blog entries because of things you mention here: See "Blamings, Worries and Hates: Oh My" posted 23 days ago and "Finding one's way" posted 16 days ago (the lack of 'road map' comment makes me think you should consider what i posted there).
Actually depending on your interests..perusing the blogs here on a regular basis....is very nourishing food for thought. Some of it is pure junk ...but there are some truly intelligent and compassionate people who post here. i've started doing this because i believe the Web is a fantastic, but underutilized tool. (i've blogged about that too!)People can get to know each other as people, with the externals a kind of afterthought. It is a venue where people can share information and ideas...and challenge each other to think. It is also a place where understandings of the hardships others have faced can be gained, and comparisons of how different people respond to the 'Chinese Curse' lives we boomers have had can be made. (Old chinese curse goes: May you live in interesting times.)
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posted by JeffTaylor
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posted by BajaHorseLady
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posted by greenrhino
When you sit down with your naked self and have a chat in the mirror about all the things you've seen and done, and the joys and capacities you 'own' by virtue of their authenticity - I think you will find that not only are you happy, but not particularly needful of another day - although this and that t'would certainly be nice tomorrow. You don't need a map for a 'nice to have', so much as a sunny morning's musing about it and wondering "what if I tried...[an idea], what do you suppose would happen?". When the impulse to get up and move strikes you, you're already ambling down the road with a spark in your eye and half a smile curling in the corners of your lips even if that impulse was only to go take a hot shower and a promise to chat about your thoughts with someone afterward.
You thought it'd be nice to blog your way into our lives...and you asked a question. So I am going go ask you questions back . What do you think would happen if you transformed the blog experience into a multi-media format? (You-Tubish video clips of people responding to thoughtful queries for example...) What do you think would happen if you scored the background and strung the clips into sequences published at a predictable stroke of an hour on an expected day? What do you imagine people would do to actively participate in such a project? Would they subscribe? Would grassroots cottage industry/service providers help you defray costs to air their less than a minute video 'commercial' on your blogspot? lol, and so on..... So now you have the benefit of my four more years experience and my two cents on one way to go about taking a road without a roadmap and being content with where you are along the way.
Now i have to thank you, for the last line of that re-posting:
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
I charged myself with the task of taking a Turning-50 walkabout to discover something I didn't know...and while I'm still in the process of it, I find myself a little closer this moment having stumbled over that 'glint of mica' you provided. The question of Romanticism emerged as the knot to worry during this walkabout, even if only to untie it, marvel at it and dress it again. I think I'm coming to some sense of "romantic realism" as something I am willing to own without conflict - placing romanticism in the realm of the observed and withdrawing it from the difficult world of expectation. It feels right to be at peace with being swept away by lived passion and delight without setting myself up for the guilt of feeling foolish, disillusioned or disappointed over 'silly dreams', if that makes any sense. So perhaps I'm done with being an apologist and i can just be.
If you are happy, then you probably have what you need. Sit on the porch steps on the next sunny morning and wonder what would happen if you approached
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