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Hello everyone and welcome to episode 114, \\u201cLearn how to Age Well in 2021.\\u201d

Before we get started

Several weeks ago a family friend stopped over to our house, and on her way out the door, she said, \\u201cOh, by the way, I listened to your podcast this morning [episode 109, Rekindle Relationships by Remembering]. It made me feel guilty about a friend of mine who lost her husband a year ago. So I called her to set up a time to get together. Thank you.\\u201d

This was certainly encouraging to know. I hope others of you are remembering a key event or two in the life of your friends and then taking action on what you remember to rekindle or deepen your relationship with that person.

On to today\'s program

Last week\\u2019s episode, number 113, Our Choices Define Us, Not Our Personality was a review of Benjamin Hardy\\u2019s book, Personality Isn\\u2019t Permanent. In his book there is a 6-word paragraph that I\\u2019ve been thinking about all week that I\\u2019m making the subject of today\\u2019s episode. Those six words?

\\u201cPeople become old far too fast\\u201d

Keep listening to hear what we can do to keep from becoming old far too fast.

People become old far too fast

To put this six-word paragraph into its context, I\\u2019ll read a brief section from Hardy\\u2019s book:

\\u201cAs a person ages, they tend to stop engaging in new situations, experiences, and environments. In other words, people\\u2019s personalities become increasingly consistent because they stop putting themselves in new contexts. p. 200.

\\u201cBy the time a person reaches their thirties, they stop having as many \\u2018first experiences,\\u2019 as an example, first time driving, first job, first big failure, etc.

\\u201cAs people age, they become increasingly less open to having new experiences. They stop surrounding themselves with new types of people. They stop engaging in new roles and in new environments. New challenges aren\'t taken on anymore. They stop experiencing new emotions.

"People become old far too fast.\\u201d

Don\\u2019t avoid the \\u201cnew\\u201d

The operative word in his comments is \\u201cnew.\\u201d The author writes how people who become old far too fast avoid \\u201cnew.\\u201d By my count he uses the word \\u201cnew\\u201d eight times in the section I just read.

I don\\u2019t know about you, but I wonder if this is true for me, too. Do I avoid \\u201cnew\\u201d?

Because truth be told, I\\u2019m a fan of \\u201cold.\\u201d Old ways of doing things. Familiar foods, familiar clothes, familiar people. Old ways of dealing with life that I think have served me well.

But maybe I\\u2019m missing something. How about you? Maybe we all need a little more \\u201cnew\\u201d in our lives to age well.

Hmm. If you\\u2019re with me on this, I\\u2019d like to suggest we focus on just one new thing to keep us from becoming old far too fast.

It\\u2019s this: learn one new skill. And that skill would be INVESTING. Yes, investing. Not investing money, but investing in ourselves, and investing in others

Investing in ourselves

• In my twenties, during my high school teaching days, I would spend an hour a week on my future. Started with anticipating my future as a teacher.\\xa0 MS in counseling that led to something totally away from my intended goal
• Benjamin Hardy, the author of Personality isn\\u2019t Permanent would call it investing in my \\u201cfuture self.\\u201d The person I want to be
• We can invest in ourselves by reading
• Be open to new relationships to age well in 2021
• Learning new relationship skills, such as listening. How to ask questions. How to fight the urge to fill the airwaves with the sound of our voice
• Make room for God in ways you haven\'t before. Make room for him
• We can invest in ourselves by studying the Bible to learn how to be more kind, compassionate, and patient with one another
• Another way we can invest in ourselves is to acknowledge our fears and practice trusting people more. And God more, too.
• Listen to episodes 11-14 about the four levels of relationship skill. I\\u2019ll have a link to them in the show notes.

Investing in others

• When you invest money, you expect a return on your investment. You expect to get something back. It\\u2019s not always that way with relationships
• Invest in people without any exception of a return on your investment
• Quote from basketball coaching legend, John Wooden, who said, \\u201cYou haven\'t had a perfect day until you\'ve done something for someone who can never repay you.\\u201d
• Being with kids keeps you from aging too fast
• Teachers and others who work with kids have a great opportunity to invest in others
• Mr. Littaritz\\u2019s funeral, June 19, 2021. Most of his 87 years on earth were spent investing in others, namely teenagers

So what does all this mean for YOU?

How can you use what you\\u2019ve heard today to improve the relationships in YOUR life? Here are a few ideas:

• Invest in others. Example: Mr. Littaritz. He prepared his students for the draft, running his P.E. class like boot camp. The marching, the barking at students. And at times with a smirk afterward
• Invest in yourself to age well. Devout an hour a week for your future like I did in my 20s
• Colossians 3:10 \\u201cPut on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.\\u201d
• Learning to know your creator and becoming like him is a great way to invest in yourself.

Here\\u2019s the main point I hope you remember from today\\u2019s episode

We can age well by investing in our self and in others. It keeps our focus more on the new and less on the old. And it prevents us from aging faster than we should.

I\\u2019d love to hear any thoughts you have about today\\u2019s episode. Just send them to me in an email to john [at] caringforothers [dot] org. Or you can share your thoughts in the \\u201cLeave a Reply\\u201d box at the bottom of the show notes.

Closing

In closing, if you found this podcast helpful, please subscribe if you haven\\u2019t already done so. Feel free to forward this episode to others you think might be interested in today\\u2019s content.

I hope your thinking was stimulated by today\\u2019s show, to both reflect and to act. So that you will find the joy God intends for you through your relationships. Because after all, You Were Made for This.

Well, that\\u2019s all for today. I look forward to connecting with you again next week. Goodbye for now.

Related resources you may want to check out

Dr. Benjamin Hardy\\u2019s book, Personality Isn\\u2019t permanent

Prior episodes:

113 Our Choices Define Us, Not Our Personality.

105 How to Listen Better

044: Thankful for the People Who Invested in Us

011 Relationship Skills - Level 1

012 Relationship Skills - Level 2

013 Relationship Skills - Level 3

014 Relationship Skills - Level 4

You Were Made for This is sponsored by Caring for Others, a missionary care ministry. We depend upon the generosity of donors to pay our bills.\\xa0 If you\'d like to support what we do with a secure tax-deductible donation, please click here. We\'d be so grateful if you did.