Old Age + Brain Work
Ξ June 12th, 2008 | → | ∇ Blog |
I had a conversation with a fellow about a week ago. He works at a publishing company but sings in a band on his spare time. At any rate, he mentioned that very young women used to try to meet him, but now think of him as a nice middle aged man. He’s like .. I don’t FEEL middle aged. MY BRAIN is still the same as it was when I was young….
Mine too I suppose. I don’t actually think my brain/mind started thinking old thoughts. I thought it would when I was younger, but it’s not actually the case. I felt that at some age, I’d want to put on a suit and go to work someplace with the wall street journal tucked under my arm. Surprisingly, that’s not the case. When I was a kid, I used to think that it would be awsome to be shot out of a cannon at the circus .. you’d think thoughts like that would fade away over time .. but .. nope. At least not with me. Probably, the only difference in the thought process is that I’m armed with more facts and I’m a little more fearful. I’ll explain.
I know more things, so I think about things a little differently then I did when I was 18. Not terribly different, but with a different slant. Like, I’ve worked in the financial industry for a while. I went from knowing next to nothing about the stock market, to knowing enough to watch Squawk Box every morning before leaving for work and understanding everything they are talking about. So, the fact that I’ve learned a little about the financial markets gives me an interest in the topic, but my thinking isn’t so much different that I don’t think .. hrm .. Becky Quick isn’t bad looking. See what I mean.. an 18 year old mind armed with enough knowledge to make different things interesting.
In terms of fearful, as one gets older, life becomes a matter of risk management. I’ve fallen enough times to make riding a skateboard less appealing. When I was a kid I loved playing with fireworks .. till I nearly burned down someones house. I’ve had enough car accidents to make driving really fast seem dumb. Its not that I don’t want to do a gnarley skater jump, make things blow up or go really fast, its just that I know how bad it hurts when you make a mistake.
So .. there you have it. . fear and a little more knowlege is the only thing that seperates you from being a 6 year old.