Have you ever seen a blue chicken before? In Washington DC? I recently listened to a TED Talk by Kenneth Chabert entitled “Why Your Life Needs Novelty, No Matter What Your Age Is”. Sure, the title caught my eye but his opening paragraphs hooked me. He referenced psychological findings that suggested that older people, when reviewing their lives, tended to focus more on the experiences between the ages of 15 and 30. There’s apparently good reason for that. Think about it. Those years are jam packed with novel experiences. You graduate high school, choose a profession, sometimes a college, buy a house, find a life partner, maybe even have a child or two. Whew! That’s a lot of big events in 15 years. By the time you hit thirty, the days/months/years likely are already speeding by. No more powerful first experiences. Life repeats itself over and over. Perhaps, when viewed through one’s 60 or 70 year old eyes, life doesn’t seem so fulfilling anymore.
Thanks for sharing this with me JT. I think this is why I have loved traveling so much,especially to countries with different cultures.Surfing really helped fuel that desire to explore and get out there. I would recommend a book “Barbarian Days “ by William Finnegan. Bill was a staff writer for the New Yorker and has several books about politics,poverty etc covering SouthAfrica ,central America and the U S.This book is about traveling to some of the most remote locations in the world in pursuit of surfing waves no one else had discovered or been to. I was lucky enough to have been introduced to Bill a few years ago down in Baja. I usually camp near his group of friends the past several winters in the Seven Sisters region.
Heaven knows, it can be hard to push yourself out the door, don't I know it! Most of the time I find the initial planning of any to these "PFE's" to be fun and exciting, but then as the departure day draws near, I get plagued with anxiety. Why, why, WHY did I make these plans? It's just so much easier and comfier to stay home. But then, the day comes and I step into my adventure (whatever it is) and usually I get so caught up in the "novelty" (there's that word again!) and the excitement of the moment and almost always I am glad that I made the effort.
Wow, what a great post Gracie. Especially for one like me who is hyper-jaded in a certain sense. I feel I have been on this Earth for so long, through so many lifetimes, in so many forms, that there is hardly a place that is new- no place I haven't been. The smell and feel of the soil in France, in Tibet, in Ireland, is as familiar to me as that in my backyard though I've never traveled to those places in the last 75 years! It is is all one place, one taste now for me. Is that a blessing or a curse? If I could grant myself amnesia so I could forget it all, would I do so? No.
But I haven't been to Jupiter yet or stood on a satellite orbiting great Saturn yet, so PFEs are still possible I suppose! But in the end it will remain the one taste I imagine. Even come the time when I gaze down at Sag A and the amazing still turbulence at the heart of Creation.
It is not boredom though- this state. It is unending joy, never old.
Right in my back yard… that Blue Chicken! I only saw it because my sister who led our hike that Friday has the kind of personality you are speaking of. She seeks out all the new and amazing places that the rest of us (me) seem to have placed in the “nice, but” category!
Where does one purchase that gene?? My Father too sought out new and amazing places to go and then became a complete scientific spectator when arriving.
I always wondered about that. I traveled the world for 36 years and followed the flight path, but,but…. The actual searching for everything shiny new I left to others. I was curious enough but I also loved to nest. Loved those warm cozy places , those “here are my cozy socks, right where I left them”! And there is my tea kettle…
Oh heck, maybe I am being hard on myself… I’ve discovered plenty that no one else ever sought out. I even have an exact picture of the “Blue Chicken”.
Thanks for sharing this with me JT. I think this is why I have loved traveling so much,especially to countries with different cultures.Surfing really helped fuel that desire to explore and get out there. I would recommend a book “Barbarian Days “ by William Finnegan. Bill was a staff writer for the New Yorker and has several books about politics,poverty etc covering SouthAfrica ,central America and the U S.This book is about traveling to some of the most remote locations in the world in pursuit of surfing waves no one else had discovered or been to. I was lucky enough to have been introduced to Bill a few years ago down in Baja. I usually camp near his group of friends the past several winters in the Seven Sisters region.
Heaven knows, it can be hard to push yourself out the door, don't I know it! Most of the time I find the initial planning of any to these "PFE's" to be fun and exciting, but then as the departure day draws near, I get plagued with anxiety. Why, why, WHY did I make these plans? It's just so much easier and comfier to stay home. But then, the day comes and I step into my adventure (whatever it is) and usually I get so caught up in the "novelty" (there's that word again!) and the excitement of the moment and almost always I am glad that I made the effort.
Just do it!
There is only one you - bring yourself is most important
Maybe writing things down you might like to try and periodically reviewing the list makes it more likely to be done?
Maybe write the date down next to each entry.
A column each for positive and negative aspects for each.
Wow, what a great post Gracie. Especially for one like me who is hyper-jaded in a certain sense. I feel I have been on this Earth for so long, through so many lifetimes, in so many forms, that there is hardly a place that is new- no place I haven't been. The smell and feel of the soil in France, in Tibet, in Ireland, is as familiar to me as that in my backyard though I've never traveled to those places in the last 75 years! It is is all one place, one taste now for me. Is that a blessing or a curse? If I could grant myself amnesia so I could forget it all, would I do so? No.
But I haven't been to Jupiter yet or stood on a satellite orbiting great Saturn yet, so PFEs are still possible I suppose! But in the end it will remain the one taste I imagine. Even come the time when I gaze down at Sag A and the amazing still turbulence at the heart of Creation.
It is not boredom though- this state. It is unending joy, never old.
Thanks for the invigorating post!
Right in my back yard… that Blue Chicken! I only saw it because my sister who led our hike that Friday has the kind of personality you are speaking of. She seeks out all the new and amazing places that the rest of us (me) seem to have placed in the “nice, but” category!
Where does one purchase that gene?? My Father too sought out new and amazing places to go and then became a complete scientific spectator when arriving.
I always wondered about that. I traveled the world for 36 years and followed the flight path, but,but…. The actual searching for everything shiny new I left to others. I was curious enough but I also loved to nest. Loved those warm cozy places , those “here are my cozy socks, right where I left them”! And there is my tea kettle…
Oh heck, maybe I am being hard on myself… I’ve discovered plenty that no one else ever sought out. I even have an exact picture of the “Blue Chicken”.
Now where did I leave my hot water bottle?