Showing posts with label Teach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Teach. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

One of the things I fear most about getting older is being afraid to try new things.

You hear this a lot. Change is hard. The whole comfort zone thing.

One of my really good friends got a new car this year. Her previous car was 20+ years old. When I saw her new car, I was stunned. A Cadillac? Isn't that something our grandparents drove? Are we that old? But that isn't what bothered her. For her, the hardest part was getting used to all the technology. She didn't know how to work all the gadgets. She wanted her old car. It was comfortable. It was easy to operate. This new car "beeped at her", she said. She "hated it".

How did this happen? My fearless friend, afraid of a car?

It's funny, because, in my job as a pediatric nurse practitioner, the kids I see all have no fear. They bang on my computer. Grab the otoscope off the wall and play doctor. Operate their parents' phone like a tech expert.

What happens as we get older? How do we prevent ourselves from becoming fearful of new things, new experiences?