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As I age, I've found that I have to expend constant effort to repel the "wisdom" of my cohort as they become cynical, loveless, self-limiting, and as they give
by api 12y ago
As I age, I've found that I have to expend constant effort to repel the "wisdom" of my cohort as they become cynical, loveless, self-limiting, and as they give up on their dreams. I do think it's a mindset -- a mindset called "aging" which gives us a sense that it is somehow an inevitable byproduct of the biological process that goes by the same name.
Barring something amazing out of SENS research, I can't do anything about the biological process. But I can do something about that.
I've found little things that help. I occasionally do an experiment where I restrict my music collection to nothing more than five years old. I'll sometimes admit older things only if I was not listening to them when I was a teenager or early-20-something... if they are new to me. It's curiously effective, since central to the ideology of aging is that everything is getting worse than it was "back in my day." If you try this and find your collection sparse, go and find more. Music is a very condensed form of human expression. It carries a lot with it.
Other things that work include avoiding excessive and routine alcohol consumption, changing your setting, getting rid of old things, and learning pretty much anything new.
- protonfish 12y agoI like your thoughts, but I wouldn't call the mindset "aging." But what to call it? Maybe "being an asshole."
- api 12y agoPeople seem to call it aging... or rather it seems to happen to people as they "age." But yes, it involves a fair amount of assholery. Another observation: I have children, and I have not given up on my dreams. I find many people who say you can't pursue your dreams with kids. IMHO those people have given up on their dreams for other reasons and are blaming their children for that. It's a shitty thing to do-- your kids want you to have dreams, since it will inspire them.
- protonfish 12y agoAgreed. One of the most important duties of a parent is to serve a positive example by living how you would want your children to live. I know too many whining self-martyrs that believe the quality of parenting is proportional to the amount of misery they are in. I don't believe that is true and these parents are not only failing themselves, but their families as well.
- bsder 12y ago> As I age, I've found that I have to expend constant effort to repel the "wisdom" of my cohort as they become cynical, loveless, self-limiting, and as they give up on their dreams. I actually consider it a function of "lack of positive reinforcement for adult learning." Learning anything as a child gets a continuous stream of "oh, isn't that wonderful" no matter how bad the child sucks. As an adult, try learning a foreign language or a musical instrument. You have to be damn near native fluency or rock star proficiency before you will get a positive word from other adults. When learning something new as an adult, you have to have an amazing amount of fortitude to continue plowing through a new task.
- api 12y agoIgnoring "stop energy" is a skill you have to master.