The 100 Years Club Installment #67: Do I Change?

Yesterday, I listened to a great New Yorker article titled “Are You the Same Person You Used to Be ? “

Over time, I learned to listen to magazines and books rather than flipping pages.

That’s just a tiny example of how my behaviors have changed (as a result of technology and my ultimate success in finding comfortable earbuds).

But the point of this blurb is not my reading/listening habits but more the question of whether we can fundamentally change as we age.

My dating, social, and business lives have exposed me to people who hate change.

They spend more time analyzing how they’ve always done things rather than opening their minds to new ideas and habits.

I’ve also noticed that some people expect others to change as they age; how they dress, the activities they enjoy, and the people they want in their lives. I’m bombarded with articles about dressing and wearing my hair >50. I ignore them.

When I Googled “How to make a change in your life,” 10,810,000,000 results popped up.

I guess this article will now be 10,810,000,001 (if it indexes well for SEO—something I never would have thought about when I launched this series—a tiny example of a change in my own life).

As I age, I’m faced with changes:

• I MUST make due to circumstances beyond my control.
• I WANT to make because the old ways of doing things are no longer working for me, or I need new forms of stimulation and intelligence.
• I should CONSIDER making because perhaps they’ll make my life or work better. As I’m typing this, Grammarly keeps suggesting a different way to phrase things, but I ultimately choose which of its corrections I’ll accept.

I dedicated my podcast this week to the concept of change (so obviously, it’s been on my mind during April — the spring cleaning month).

Believing that I am still capable of change is the first step, which seems to match what the professionals say.

• What do YOU want or need to change?
• What is getting in the way?
• How do you remove those obstacles?

Those are three questions we should all ask ourselves on a regular basis — at any age!