Why don't I DO stuff?

[cjsmith]

I just re-read two journal entries, one containing several unusual things I've done and another listing things I haven't done but coulda or woulda liked to. I'm struck by the fact that most of the interesting things I've done were done more than a decade ago, and the things I'd like to do have sat on my "maybe someday" mental list for years.

Was I really so much more interesting ten or twenty years ago? Does this have something to do with being a grownup with a mortgage? Why haven't I done more of the things I'd like to try? What am I so afraid of?

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Well, there was the trip to Egypt....

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Mm, true. And my four-day solo backpacking trip, and hiking Half Dome. I do wonder what would be so wrong with turning my hair a nice darkish green.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

And happy birthday, too!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[fuzzygruf.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

As far as not doing interesting things, you just got back from a super interesting trip! That said, I'm familiar with the "maybe someday" feeling. Hey, go Carpe Diem!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

I guess I still do the travel thing. And maybe it's time for a resolution to do some more interesting stuff before I lose even the ideas.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

happy birthday :)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! 8-)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you ten years ago, but I can say with certainty that you're quite interesting now. I've been quite impressed with you in the few years I've known you.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Awww, *blush* thank you! Comments like that can offset a heck of a lot of my self-grump. :-)

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Glad to help. I'd offer to offset the rest, but what I have in mind would require much closer proximity.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

*chuckle*

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! 8-)

[exponentialdk.livejournal.com]

Happy birthday!

About doing fewer interesting things: That's the normal progression as we age. How long has it been since we've gone caving? How long since various things we, uh, wouldn't want to write about in public?

On the other hand, as long as we keep doing *some* unusual things, and stay open to new experiences, we can still get a lot of the mundane (adult) stuff done in our lives, without falling too deeply into a rut. Just remember to keep some balance in your life, because if you don't save up for old age you'll regret it, and if you do nothing but prepare for old age, you may as well be there already.

Stay young!
:-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Yes, I haven't been caving -- or most of those other various things either, come to think of it -- since college. Your comments about a natural progression and about balance sound eminently sensible to me. Thank you for mentioning those! I suppose I've been swinging a little farther to one side than I'd like, so maybe a little tweaking is all I need.

[rfrench.livejournal.com]

Well, we've been to Moaning Caverns enough that we have Frequent Repeller cards, and have done the spelunking tour three times that I can think of. It may not be a trip where you pack out your own waste, but it's still interesting...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Well, to be perfectly accurate, you need only go once to get the card. I was about to ask whether we'd been there in the last ten years, but I remember now that we have.

My mother, on the phone this afternoon, reminded me that the aerobatic flight where she was a passenger was also more recent than ten years ago.

As I said to Mary below, I think I'm comparing my day-to-day existence now with selected quirky highlights from The Good Old Days.

[firecat]

Poking my nose in: I don't do fewer interesting things now that I'm older. Partly it's because I have a very broad definition of "interesting" (caving is interesting, but so is jewelry making - something doesn't have to be "unusual" to be interesting, IMO). Partly it's because I'm less frightened than I was when I was younger.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think that overall I'm more frightened now than I was when I was younger. Some of my fears from back then are gone now, I have some new ones, and some have grown.

Jewelry making is unusual to ME. Since many unusual things are interesting, and since it's all about ME, jewelry making is therefore inherently interesting. :-)

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Didn't you just, like, go square dancing in Iceland or something? That seems kind of interesting to the untrained eye...

I know what you mean, though. It's easy to get trapped in that "birth school work death" rut.

Is there something you're afraid of, though? I mean, I know after my adventures that Don't Work Out I minimize my risks & my striking out for quite a while.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I think what I'm most afraid of is Screwing Up. Doing something without thinking it through, and thus closing off a future possibility I later find I want; doing something suboptimally and feeling dumb; that sort of thing. I haven't used LJ's photo hosting feature for paid users yet because I might not do it flawlessly the first time.

I think I wasn't so strongly like this ten or twenty years ago. Maybe I can manage to be not so strongly like this ten or twenty years from now!

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Has what you've been doing lately -- travelling, climbing, working on your body -- been uninteresting to you, or are you concerned that it has been to others?

Are you comparing yourself to you ten years ago (with perhaps a less-than-accurate view, as you might not remember what was uninteresting a decade ago) or others now?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Has what you've been doing lately -- travelling, climbing, working on your body -- been uninteresting to you, or are you concerned that it has been to others?

Uninteresting to me. Perhaps "interesting" isn't quite the right word; maybe it's more accurate to say I'm not stretching myself. Of course, when I think of what I've been doing lately, what I tend to think of is sitting here in the office, not square dance calling in Stockholm; that right there is a big factor. For nearly twenty years now this has been my line of work. No wonder it starts to look a bit monotonous.

Are you comparing yourself to you ten years ago (with perhaps a less-than-accurate view, as you might not remember what was uninteresting a decade ago) or others now?

I think I'm comparing my day-to-day existence now with selected quirky highlights from ten years ago. :-)

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! 8-)