Read the science, live through some things, and you’ll arrive at a profound truth: cultivating and maintaining a dynamic curiosity about life will keep you healthier and more intellectually engaged in the world.
Granted, I’m someone who loves to learn. What’s closer to the truth is that I live to learn.
From the time I was a little girl, I was deeply curious. Mother was a curious person who loved to read and build new skills, and she taught me by example to ask questions and embrace new ideas with enthusiasm.
When Mother passed away, my parents had been married 60 years—most of their adult lives. One day shortly after she died, my Dad expressed a powerful truth about her: “Your mother grew more in the years I knew her than any person I have ever known.” I have no doubt she had.
Perhaps you’re already thinking, Life can really bring you down if you’re paying attention though. It’s not easy to be open to curiosity when you’re processing sadness and grief.
Like most people who’ve hit their senior years, I’ve experienced countless setbacks. Even if you’re not stuck in past disappointments and deep wounds, since most of us follow current events, we witness a steady stream of natural and humanmade catastrophe. The key to staying curious is to build some detachment from the emotional triggers associated with struggle without being brought low by tragedy and collapsing into bitterness.
A trip like that—falling into a perpetual chokehold from a constant diet of despair—would prompt even the sunniest of personalities to pull away. The risk is that you hunker down from heartache and stop engaging, shutting down completely. That choice, I believe, will ultimately quash your tender, treasured spirit.
So, you can’t go there, as the kids say. You must gather your courage to embrace each day, stand at your window with the light on your face each morning and live above the struggle that threatens to dull your shine. No, it’s not always easy, but the reward is worth embracing the challenge. You are worthy of a good life—one lived with your face lifted to the light.
Be well. Stay curious.
All the best always,
Doc
