Exercising Your Brain

I was thinking about exercising my brain.  Some may call it “brain games,” but I’m basically referring to using my brain in an active manner.

While I tend to write the BTT rants and other lighter fare, there is the occasional time that something serious is on my mind, though my wife would argue otherwise.  That occasional time occurred early the other morning, as I was thinking, while the dawn was breaking.  Wow, that was almost literary!  Don’t worry, I’m not going to go get too serious or heavy on you.

BoomerTechTalk is oriented to Boomers, who want to expand their technology horizons, learn and grow.  BTT largely arose from my experiences when I began writing, my second career after leaving showbiz, and hired Linda Sherman as my Social Media consultant and guru. I struggled to gain traction in the new technological world that had sprung up after I’d retired from my former career and became a SAHD (stay-at-home-dad), but Linda helped me through what seemed like an endless maze of confusion.

In so many ways, those SAHD years were precious, but they also were brain atrophying.  My memory seemed to fade away.  Other than reading aloud to my kids, and singing, “The Wheels On the Bus,” I was far from using my mind.

I was truly unaware of the damage this was causing until later when I began my journey with Linda through tech-land, as I like to call it, and began learning all the new things that were out there.

It wasn’t often easy and my natural stubbornness often raised its ugly head (again, refer to my wife) but, when I put my mind to it, I often got such satisfaction when I got it! For instance, when I mastered a new program, digital photography, burning a CD, or installing a printer, etc.  We won’t talk about the many late nights finding music on the Internet — what a wonderful discovery that was. Sometimes, I’d spend many hours lost in the pleasures of figuring out how to do this or that.  Other times I’d just put it all back in the box in frustration (see my rant, I’m Afraid to Take It Out of the Box).

Over time, I got better.  And, better.  I’d say I even became a Facebook and Twitter junkie or addict.  My family accused me of just that and I think they were and are right.  But, I also found my memory returning and my mind running faster, ideas coming back with more rapidity and variety, and I was waking up earlier because I was excited to get to work.

Research has demonstrated (please don’t ask me to cite it, just google it and you’ll find dozens of sources) that the brain is that one human muscle that can and will regenerate itself unlike the rest of our body’s muscles.  I believe this is true at almost any age unless you are suffering from some degenerative disease.

I was exercising my brain again.  It felt wonderful.  Sadly, I wasn’t exercising my body as much and I gained some weight, but I know what I have to do to take care of that.  Oh, you can definitely ask my wife about this one! It was the brain exercise that was so enlightening.

My tech journey with Linda, and also Ray Gordon (our 3rd BTT partner), led us to the creation of this website.  I hope this story has inspired you to join me as I continue on this journey, occasionally stumbling along the way, but loving how my brain is so much more active now that it’s been engaged again.  And, no, we’re not going to advertise for Geritol at the end of this article.  I encourage and welcome you to join me in giving your brain a work out, too.  Let’s do it together!