I think enthusiasm for some element in our life is the key to having the desire to get up everyday.\u00a0 And as the years pass, particularly as we enter what for me has become the final stage of life, I know I must have passion for doing something not attempted before or working to enhance a skill already present to keep my enthusiasm churning.\u00a0 I can\u2019t simply do over and over again what I have already done so many times before.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean that what I have spent my life doing has lost its value.\u00a0 On the contrary.\u00a0 It only means that at some point, enthusiasm wanes.\u00a0 I have seen it happen to others.\u00a0 And I know I am no different.\u00a0 Making a decision to explore new territory is the impetus I think most folks need to get up daily with enthusiasm, when we age.<\/p>\n
My husband\u2019s passion is to know more about virtually any topic he hears just a smidgen about.\u00a0 He is the most curious person I have ever met.\u00a0 His curiosity, in fact, is what attracted me to him some forty years ago.\u00a0 He also has a remarkable capacity for remembering all that he has read or watched.\u00a0 He simply never tires of wanting to know more.\u00a0 His enthusiasm for the ordinary makes it seem extraordinary when he retells \u201ctheir story.\u201d\u00a0 And people are eager for his stories.\u00a0 I have observed this throughout our marriage.\u00a0 Our eagerness to know more feeds his desire, I think.<\/p>\n
Because some of you are on the precipice of entering this final stage right along with me, the choices you may need to make about many elements of your life are only now passing through your mind.\u00a0 Some of these choices relate to changes in housing.\u00a0 Some will relate to changing locations, even.\u00a0 I actually know hundreds of couples and singles who have moved to a new part of the country for the final stage of life.\u00a0 For some that move was financial.\u00a0 For others it had to do with health or weather or the movement of children or friends.\u00a0 And for a few, it was the basic drive for a new adventure.\u00a0 The good news is that we\/they can always \u201cmove back home\u201d again.\u00a0 No decision has to be made forever.<\/p>\n
Getting older doesn\u2019t necessarily mean leading a quieter life.\u00a0 However, it may be slower in certain respects.\u00a0 I know, at 75, I don\u2019t have the energy I had at 60.\u00a0 I observed this first-hand just a week ago when my niece, who is 60, was visiting with her husband.\u00a0 Taking a morning walk together made it obvious that I no longer power-walked at her speed.\u00a0 The rest of the week she walked before I got up.\u00a0 I had to laugh.\u00a0 This was me a few years ago when I walked with my older sisters.<\/p>\n
She and I went shopping and I experienced another example of the age difference.\u00a0 She bought me an e-cloth, a new method for washing windows, as a hostess gift.\u00a0 When we got home, I was ready to rest awhile.\u00a0 She, on the other hand, excitedly,<\/b> washed every window in my house, both inside and out, screens too, without even breathing hard.\u00a0 Almost without stopping to eat.\u00a0 I was nearly exhausted just watching her.\u00a0 Her joy at offering this as an additional gift to me was all the sustenance she needed.<\/p>\n
Did I do that at 60?\u00a0 It\u2019s doubtful.\u00a0 I never liked housework, but I do know I burned the candle at both ends very successfully for many years, a feat that\u2019s thankfully behind me now.\u00a0 That section \u201cof my chart\u201d has been completed. \u00a0Thanks be to God.<\/p>\n
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I think enthusiasm for some element in our life is the key to having the desire to get up everyday.\u00a0 And as the years pass, particularly as we enter what for me has become the final stage of life, I know I must have passion for doing something not attempted before or working to enhance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-circle-of-family-and-friends-you-and-your-personal-community"],"yoast_head":"\n