Learning Not Optional

It doesn’t matter how old I am, September always feels like the “real” start of the new year. After decades of school, graduate school, collected certificates, and other proof of learning, my body and mind wake up in September focused on what new learning I want to explore.

In my job as Executive Director of Northwest Center for Creative Aging, I promote, encourage, and badger—I realize some people might feel that way when I get started!—people to find something new to learn. The reasons are manifold. They include accepted research for how to age well, keeping our brains and bodies active. I show a slide that lists three things our brains need to keep changing:

1. Novelty—something new
2. Complexity—something challenging
3. Sense of purpose—what matters emotionally and intellectually

In 2011, having just retired from a 21-year career at Boeing as a writer, curriculum designer, and coach, I realized I wanted to find activities and people with whom I could connect, learn, and create together. I joined a team of people inspired by the Aging Your Way initiative of Senior Services, now Sound Generations. We wanted to create a website with the many kinds of learning opportunities in our area. We kept discovering myriad learning options, ranging from formal institution-based learning—community colleges, Osher, and other continuing education programs welcoming older learners—to individual programs and providers for just about anything anybody might want to learn. While that effort ended due to lack of funding, we came away heartened by how much existed for anybody with energy, curiosity and desire for continuing growth and connection.

I never stop discovering new things that help with the work I do. Most recently, I read an article that discussed the important idea of life review, something that has special purpose as we age.

While the life review concept comes from the field of psychotherapy and provides opportunities to reconcile, reassess, and renew our relationships to ourselves and others, the idea has broader application.

I suggest that looking back on our lives could surface what we might want to learn now. Perhaps we started a musical instrument when we were kids but gave it up, wishing we had continued. Maybe we acted in school theatrical productions and loved the camaraderie. Did you participate in physical sports or other activities you enjoyed? Is there a language you wish you had stuck with and might be planning a trip where you could practice it?

If something draws you, check it out. For many of us, we no longer care about grades or being top of the class. We’re there for exploration and connection, surprise and inspiration. We might find not only new information but new friends and new energy.

Other models for overall health and wellbeing show areas of our life that provide support for our overall health, including physical, intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual health. If one of those areas strikes you as missing or inactive, look for ways to add to those, possibly through courses or experiential offerings.

I remember a friend who entered a master’s degree program at age 65. When confronted about how old she would be when she received the hard-won degree, she reminded us that she would be that same age whether she did it or not! But she would miss the benefit of the friendship and discovery that came from new learning commitment.

When I meet people who tell me they are done with having to learn new things, I encourage them to consider the fact that life is always about learning. I mention some of the many opportunities for learning that abound in our region.

Some of the local places you can find fall programs and learning experiences include:

• Lifetime Learning Center – HOME | Lifetime Learning (lifetimelearningcenter.org)
• Northwest Center for Creative Aging
• Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, UW
• Lifelong Recreation, Seattle Parks and Recreation (and programs offered by other municipalities)

Other places to find programs include colleges, senior centers, and libraries.

Contributor Rebecca Crichton, as executive director of Northwest Center for Creative Aging, uses her knowledge and experience to offer programs and resources related to creative aging in the Seattle area, including collaborations with Town Hall Seattle, King County Library System, and 3^rd Act Magazine.