KEEP LEARNING by Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach
You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizons. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about--the more you have left when anything happens." -- Ethel Barrymore
Al Siebert, Ph.D., who studied resilient seniors, discovered that they had "a childlike" curiosity, and a lifelong love of learning. People who die in their 5th and 6th decade had this life trajectory: school, then work, then leisure. Resilient seniors had combined all three throughout their lifetime.
Take a look at this painting - http://www.susandunn.cc/images/neophyte.jpg" target="www.susandunn.cc/images/neophyte.jpg">http://www.susandunn.cc/images/neophyte.jpg. In fact print it out and put in on your computer. It's called "The Neophyte," which means "newly converted." However, I see this painting symbolically - the men as "people" and all the same age, but the one who is learning is alive!
I've seen this happen repeatedly with coaching clients who are in a midlife crisis. Some are burnt out on their jobs, others on their careers. They feel they've failed to find the prescription for "a happy life." It's all "been there, done that." They're like the old men in this painting - asleep, bored, exhausted, resistant. They know this, but don't know what to do about it.
Once they start learning something new, they become excited again. As one of them told me, who was an expert on homelessness and explained this complex social problem to the public, "I long to sit in the back of the room and be the one raising their hand saying 'What does that mean?'" My prescription to her was that she do exactly that!
Once she put herself back in that position-changing careers completely-she came alive again.
This takes courage, because it often means the battle of the golden handcuffs. It also goes against the societal grain that we become experts and stay there. But those who are willing to forego the ego trip and the money which hasn't bought happiness, benefit.
However, you need not do it so dramatically. You can learn new things in your own field, learn a new language, learn a new hobby, or travel to a new land. Too old? One of my clients who's 58 became fluent in German in two years. Another, who's 60, went from zero to designing websites in three years.
However you choose to keep LEARNING in your life, the evidence is in that's it's one of the best things you can do.
(c)Susan Dunn, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc. Coaching for all your needs. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.
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