Aging and Intelligence--I think I'm getting dumber

[_asbestosman]

I think the question you should be asking is if you're more or less happy.

I don't feel particularly depressed or sad. I'd say I'm more or less happy. Actually, I'm probably happier now than I was three years ago. I just think I lost a few insight points. Better dumb and happy? Maybe. Or maybe I'm wrong. I don't feel depressed or inferior. I do think I need to work on effective communication, especially orally.

If you just feel like you're in a rut do something to alter your life.

No, not a rut. My current hobby du-jour is music theory as based in mathematics. Fascinating stuff.

Take up sky-diving or paintball. Try a new sport.

I did start kayaking last spring and I will again. Sky-diving would be fun, but sounds costly (which is the main reason I'm not a ski-bum because I love skiing). I might give paintball a shot if my brother is up for it, but I'm a bigger fan of relatively cheap sports like kayaking, hiking, and biking (I don't need to pay a fee for a lift or paintball supplies/arena).

One thing I've found is that if I don't have some daily physical activity I get stupid and sad.

Interesting point. I used to bike to work more three years ago. I plan to do so again starting this spring. Still, I don't' think I'm that far off. I exercise about 3 days a week. Usually a half hour of weights (while watching Anime) followed by about an hour on an exercise bike (while watching Anime / reading various web sites).

If you've already got that come up with something that really challenges your mind.

But coming up with something is the thing that challenges my mind! I'll probably look into some good fiction to increase cultural exposure + increase language. I'm also mulling around an idea for a video game.

In general I'm satisfied with myself.

[_Moniker]

Well, it fits you, Nehor, yet, I'd hate to see abman change becuase he feels inadequate in anyway.

Well, the initial and indeed primary comparison was the three-years-ago me with present day me. I envy the former's ability to entertain, provide insight, etc. But maybe that's just a misperception on my part and I haven't lost anything.

Or maybe time on internet boards has made me dumber (even when it doesn't appear to adversely affect Cinepro or Daniel Peterson).

Well, I think it's probably healthier to look at yourself and compare than others. It's just a function of low self esteem. I've done it, too. Then I look around at my life, in the mirror, at what I've accomplished and witness "reality" and it snaps it back into place, for me. I absolutely adore who I am. Flaws and all. YET, I know there's more I need to learn, those I can learn from and want to better myself.

If you want to be well read then read. :)

[_moksha]

Asbestos, I have always enjoyed your posts from back when and today.

Thank goodness you did not ask to be a combo of Juliann, Pahoran and Out of Misery.

[_Bond James Bond]

It's strange, but when I look at my really old posts ad MADB, I think I was much more intelligent than I am now. It seems like I'm becoming less creative, less insightful, and even less entertaining as time goes on. Maybe it just means I need to get more sleep instead of staying up playing computer games and watching anime.

I wonder the same thing when reading things I wrote long ago [most recently the Big Love season 2 thread, it was like reading a different person]. It's so weird, I feel so much less in touch with myself that I'm no longer depressed. My depression led to alot of internal reflection and thought, and from that I do believe I was more creative and insightful then than I am now. I feel like I lost something, but I feel like I've gained more. Perhaps I did lose out on my deep analytic thought process, but I gained a social life. Perhaps I'm not as creative, but I'm more productive. Perhaps I'm less entertaining, but now I provide in real life entertainment, not cyber entertainment.

Really though I think it's that we always look back on our former selves and see a paradigm we wish we could return to because the current self is facing uncertainty, while the old self is a comfortable thing since we know how it turned out. Something that distance has allowed us to access more accurately than we can assess our current self. But that's reflection...I can't live in the past or worry too much about time lost, but rather to worry about playing my current situation as best as I can and to use the time I have productively. That's just me though. I have more frustrations, quite a few of late, but that's only because I've been pushing myself to step out of a comfort zone and not be too complacent in life.

Alright...I was just free writing there. Pay no attention to the Bondman.

I'm too young to be getting old.

I try not to worry about it. It's interesting though to be a bit older, to see friends taking those first steps in college, steps I took myself and experiencing new things as I did. I find that perhaps I am getting older [soon to be 24] but I feel young[er] when I help younger folks out with a bit of advice or encouragement.

[_Bond James Bond]

Maybe it's just that I wish I were more like a mix between Cinepro, Daniel Peterson, and a dash of The Nehor.

Oddly I never have these feelings. Ever. Like Sammy Davis Jr. said, "I gotta be me".

[_Jersey Girl]

It's strange, but when I look at my really old posts ad MADB, I think I was much more intelligent than I am now. It seems like I'm becoming less creative, less insightful, and even less entertaining as time goes on. Maybe it just means I need to get more sleep instead of staying up playing computer games and watching anime.

Anyone else notice that happening with others (themselves) in general? What's happening and how can I make it stop?

I'm too young to be getting old.

Firstly, everyone else on this thread is purely wrong.

It's not that you're less intelligent. You're simply less passionate. What about those old posts of yours? Were you writing about something you were passionate about at the time?

[_Jersey Girl]

ab

I do think I need to work on effective communication, especially orally.

How could you get more practice in oral communication? Does your field of work provide such opportunities?

Inspite of what impression you get from my posts (lunatic, probably) I am a fluent and articulate public speaker so long as I'm given a specific topic to cover. If I've been given an assignment or invitation to speak instructionally on a field related topic or as not so long ago, when the request was to "inspire" I can do that. I need to have a goal to work toward. Put me in an improvisational position before a room full of adults and I totally flounder. Ask me to make "small talk" and the effort exhausts me.

How about you? What's lacking in your oral communication abilities? Are you thinking of one:one or before a large group?

[_Seven]

Asbestos, I have always enjoyed your posts from back when and today.

Thank goodness you did not ask to be a combo of Juliann, Pahoran and Out of Misery.

LOL

I also have enjoyed your posts Asbestos. :)

[_Seven]

Maybe it's just that I wish I were more like a mix between Cinepro, Daniel Peterson, and a dash of The Nehor.

Why?



Don't compare yourself to other people. I have never really noticed anything Cinepro wrote... maybe it's cause I'm not an ex-Mo? His posts I haven't even noticed or they haven't stood out, to me. Daniel Peterson has a wit that I appreciate, yet, irritates the hell out of other people. Nehor can be pesky intentionally and that's not something you want to strive for, is it?

You've been missing out Moniker. :) I've been a Cinepro fan for years and his posts are usually facetious and very witty. I only go to MAD to read Cinepro. Check out his old posts.

[_asbestosman]

all right...I was just free writing there. Pay no attention to the Bondman.

For a moment I thought you had it nailed, Bondman. It'll be hard not to pay attention to it. I probably was doing more introsection at that point in life. Then again, I have had reason to do a fair amount reflection over the past year, but the issues have been different.

How could you get more practice in oral communication? Does your field of work provide such opportunities?

Well, I can and have given presentations on various computer software techniques. I'm actually planning on helping to put one together in a month or so. It is yet to be determined whether I will actually talk and discuss my experience with it. In the past I've done okay in small groups, but I do stumble over words a bit. I'd probably do better with more preparation.

One on one I sometimes do fine and sometimes not. However, that is the thing I was most concerened about. I think I come off as too timid.

Giving talks in church doesn't bother me at all. I think I do well there. Maybe it's an issue of preparation, but strangely I often just jot down notes with references and quotes for a church talk instead of writing out the whole thing. The same strategy didn't seem to work quite as well for presentations at work. Perhaps I simply need more practice, or maybe I just need to relax (even though I don't feel the dread of death some do with giving a talk).