Leaping
"All growth is a leap in the dark, a
spontaneous unpremeditated act without the
benefit of experience." --Henry Miller
I recently discovered a feeling that I
haven't known in awhile. I'm anxious. I've
never been out of North America and I'm
headed to Venice, Italy on May 10. And I'm
anxious. It's not a bad feeling. In fact,
I'm kind of enjoying it. It's just that it
dawned on me that I hadn't felt that way in a
long time.
Being anxious vs. being worried
Oh, I've worried plenty in the last few
years. I worried about whether my business
was going to make it or not. I worried about
whether my grandson would be healthy when he
got tangled up in the umbilical cord right
before he arrived. But this is a different
feeling. This is different from worry.
According to most dictionaries, "anxious"
means both eagerness and nervousness.
I have equal parts of each. I am excited
about this trip. I'm also worried about
things like currency exchanges and Italian
pickpockets and not knowing enough of the
language to get by. (When I have visited
Mexico, I knew my two years of college level
Spanish - primarily spent reading Juan Rulfo
and Carlos Fuentes - would make conversation
muy facil. Yeah, right.) All I can say in
Italian is "ciao" and the words for several
foods. Oh, and cappuccino and vino.
So I'm anxious. As I said, this is a
somewhat unfamiliar feeling. I realized that
the reason that I haven't felt this recently
is that my life has become easy. I'm not
taking as many risks as I used to - in
business or in my personal life. I'm also
not learning as many new things as I have in
the past.
Behaving
Maybe that's the way you are supposed to
behave once you pass 50 or become a
grandmother. But I really don't want to be
that person. I want to keep reaching for
the next level. And the only way to do that
is to try new things and occasionally feel
some anxiety.
Recent studies show that mental challenge and
intellectual activity help to increase your
brain function. Contrary to previous
thought, you do not lose huge amounts of
brain cells as you age. Some areas of the
brain, however, are more likely to decline
over time. Physical and mental exercise can
slow this deterioration. (For more research
on improving your brain, including exercises
you can do, see The Franklin Institute's
website on The
Human Brain).
Has life become too easy?
What about you? When was the last time you
felt anxious? When was the last time you
tried something that was a stretch or did
something that was outside of your comfort
zone? When was the last time you took a leap
and learned something new? Maybe May is the
month for leaping. Let me know where you land.
|
