Get off the treadmill

 

Change is one of the fundamentals of living. We live in a state of constant flux. Everything changes.

Change comes with the hope that things will be better, or easier, but that is not a given. 

In the old old days, when I was a child, I picked up the phone and asked to speak to Jenny Smith. Now my phone is a mini-computer. It not only calls people, it takes messages. It tells me what the weather is like and lets me play games that keep my mind active and engaged. I can look up anything I can think of on today's phone.

This is just an example of how things change. Almost everything is more complex now. Banks have credit cards and debit cards, bill paying forms and online banking. Utilities are often influenced by computerized set ups. Paying bills and taking care of business in person is less common and more complicated. Everything gets physically easier and mentally more complex as time goes by.

People must learn to roll with these changes, keep themselves alert and willing to learn. Otherwise life can become a depressing trap. Trying to live in the last century puts people at a disadvantage and it will only get worse as time goes on. 

I see older folks who are dealing with the reality of all of this quite nicely and I see others who spend their time trying to do things the old way -- because that is how they have always done it. That is like walking on a treadmill whose power is slowly dying. They keep exerting more and more effort with less and less success.

It is not really a choice. If you are living in the twenty first century you need to use twenty first century tools and knowledge. Otherwise it is like speaking Latin. It may be an old and honored language, but no one understands it much anymore.

The more limitations we put on ourselves, the harder life is. Simply changing your address will not change the world.

Well, not unless you are institutionalized. Then someone else will make all the changes and do all the learning and you will be at the mercy of their limitations.