Does Age Quash Our Spirit of Adventure?

[blueerica]

I don't really know where I fit in all this. As I approach 30, I am more confident now and taking more risks than I ever have before, and I was always a risk-taker. I think, though, that taking risks must be done responsibly. I don't jump into much with my eyes closed. Some decisions are made quickly, but given some reflection, I can always see the trail and realize it had been a long time coming.

For myself, I want a tattoo. I know which one I'm going to get. I've wanted it for years. The only reason I didn't get it sooner was because I wanted to know it was something I would want to keep, and 8 years down the line, I still want it. Now it's just a financial question. I don't like to overspend my bank account.

Which reminds me of what I'm more cogniscent of, than when I was younger. Money. If I had a money tree, I'd do anything. Financial concerns tie me down. Given limitless funds, what would I do? I would travel the world, and soak it all in. I'd be a different person to suit each culture. I'd enrich myself in literature and music. I'd go skydiving, I'd go bungee jumping. I'd tattoo myself wholly up and down. OK, maybe not that - but - the idea crossed my mind.

No it didn't.

I'm mostly the same as I ever was - just maybe a little bit more sure of who I am.

[lashbear]

Well, as Rita Rudner put it:

"I think men who are pierced are better prepared for marriage...... that way, they've both experienced pain - and bought jewellery !"


I have three piercings, none of which you can see when I'm wearing clothes PM me and I will give all the gory details.

I have two tattooes - both Bears (what else?) One real and one cartoon.

I do want to get another tattoo - Cinderellas castle or sleeping beauty's castle, depending on location. I thought cinderella for leg (tall and skinny) or sleeping beauty across back - low & wide.

I still prefer the nostalgic music of my youth, though.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, I will agree with some of those benchmarks ... but, for me, it's just that having newness in the same old area can itself smack of oldness. I did get less enthusiastic about new music at some point (it was more like 40) ... but I want more new visual arts now.

I have always liked both new and tried & true. But with so much life under my belt at this point, new doesn't even seem all that new unless it's also in a realm that's new.

[SacTown Chronic]

No declining spirit of adventure. No less disdain for order, structure, and the way things are (and have always been). Age hasn't contributed to my mellowization, but children have.

Priorities change. Anarchy can wait 'till the youngest graduates college.


Musically, I'm friskier than ever. Much credit to our fifteen year old for that. Thanks to him I'm fed a steady diet of new alternative music and such. We bond through music even though the totality of my musical tastes is too far out of the mainstream for even him, a teenager trying hard to affect an air of disinterested disdain for society and everything else.


Much like it is for iSm, age ain't nothing but an illusion for me.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

It seems to me a lot of what we're talking about here has very little to do with adventurousness. I don't find it adventurous to listen to a song someone wants me to hear, no matter the genre. Worst case scenario is that I don't like it. I may have to say "that's not my thing". How is that adventurous?

Tangentially, a person that actually enjoys various kinds of music isn't adventurous to me. If they have an appreciation for many different genres then that comes naturally to them and isn't an adventure at all.

Why is piercing/tattooing adventurous? Either you want a piercing or you don't. I guess you could make a case for a careless teen getting something they'll regret later. I would say that that's not adventurous, that's just a bad decision.

I'll watch any movie you want me to try - at least for a while. I'll try almost any food (can I exclude things like haggis and prairie oysters without being called a wuss?). I'll travel most anywhere (again within reason). I wouldn't say that this is adventurous in the slightest.

So what IS adventure? Adventure is climbing Everest or investing everything you have in your own business or working with the Peace Corp in a 3rd world country where children die every day (I have a coworker who did that last one - too much adventure for her, she came home).

I can't believe that "trying new music" is listed as adventurous. The way I see it, nearly all of us were born normal and boring and so we shall live for the rest of our days.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I can't believe that "trying new music" is listed as adventurous. The way I see it, nearly all of us were born normal and boring and so we shall live for the rest of our days.

It is in the context of the linked story which is exploring a and document phenomna of aging and perhaps discovering the psychological or biological reasons why

[Not Afraid]

The things I try and do in my life I wouldn't consider adventerous - until I travel and find people who think "spicy" is an evil thing and who eat meat and potatoes and listen to The Eagles like they were the latest and greatest. Compared to most of the people I've ever met while traveling for work in other parts of the county, I am VERY adventerous - or at leas they consider it so.

I think the age thing may work but I know some reasonably young people who act like thery are old futzes - and many old people who aren't.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

The things I try and do in my life I wouldn't consider adventerous - until I travel and find people who think "spicy" is an evil thing and who eat meat and potatoes and listen to The Eagles like they were the latest and greatest.

Christ, you just described most of my relatives.

I'm not sure that something can only be adventurous if it involved climbing the highest mountain in the world. I might not find sushi adventurous because I eat it every chance I get. For a meat and potatoes kind of person though, a sushi bar would be one hell of an adventure. It's all perspective and to me, adventure is simply being open to exploring the unknown even if there is a perceived risk (even if no actual danger actually exists).

[€uroMeinke]

Call it what you will, but something does happen as we age. Music seems to be a familiar example, since advertisers know what music targets a certain demographic.

At my last concert at the Trubidor, I was the creepy old guy.

I have a MySpace Page, but most of the people my age that are there are only there to keep tabs on their children.

But, as a teen I loved Science Fiction, I read every book, saw every movie I could in that genre. But over time I realized what I really like was good writing and good stories. So reading-wise, I now only read science fiction when it comes recommended to me by someone I trust (LoT). On the contemporary fiction genre though, I subscribe to a quarterly literary mag that gives me short stories to explore new writers.

In music, I still love to sample and will pick up things on a whim. One of the things I love about My Space is the Music pages - I love to go to a favorite band or musician and see what bands they link to and click away for hours finding cool stuff, and passing quickly over the stuff that doesn't move me. The internet has made it easy to weed through a lot of crap and for that reason I think it's kept my love of new music alive.

I think it also interesting to note the demographics of this website, for while there are a number of us in the over 40 category, there are many more below it. There are many my age that still shun computers and the internet - I know becasue I have to work with them. I think they are missing out, but they are perfectly content and comfortable in their ways, so who am I to rock that boat?

Anyway, I think it interesting to see how our "tastes" change as we get older as well as our willingness to try out something new.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I think it also interesting to note the demographics of this website, for while there are a number of us in the over 40 category, there are many more below it.

Thanks for reminding me that I remain in the latter category for a mere 12 more weeks. I had just brought myself to the point to where I was comfortable being in my 30's.

Anyway, I think it interesting to see how our "tastes" change as we get older as well as our willingness to try out something new.

Abolutely. But I also think it is interesting to see the different ways that people define "adventurous".

Myself, I'm not as adventurous as I wish I were. I have a very open mind to new music and new food, but you won't get me jumping out of a plane anytime soon.