“Do boring stuff you could pay someone else to do,” is #33 of 65 things I’ve learned

This week it’s #s 33-42 out of 65 things I’ve learned in 65 years. These are mine, peculiar to me, given my DNA and my experiences and my environment. Think about them and see what fits for you.

Grow

33.  Do boring stuff you could pay someone else to do. Just to do it. Because it’s good for your mind to sometimes just dig in the dirt or pull weeds or sweep or dust or cook or clip or wash or shop or … you name it. Sometimes mundane is good. Sometimes mind-numbing is good. Sometimes boring is good. Life isn’t all about convenience and sometimes your best thoughts will come when you are idling.

34.  Stimulate your mind with podcasts and YouTube. Like never before, the world is at our fingertips. Amazing people, the most amazing on the planet, talking about their little sweet spot, or discussing their unique take on life, in a relaxed, conversational style, is only a few clicks away from being your ear. Are you kidding me? And it’s free. This is a great time to be alive!

This is weird but I’ll include it anyway. I just recently realized that podcast interviews fulfill a relationship need in my life. Being a fly on the wall of two people talking about life is what I used to do with my best friends. I enjoyed brainstorming and figuring stuff out. Now I get that by listening to a good podcast. Weird and kinda spooky to me.

35.  Get a master’s degree-level education from podcasts/YouTube. I have learned to write via podcast. (Not saying I’m great … just saying I’ve learned to do it the best I can.) Yes, via podcast. Just by listening every day for a few years, usually while I fixed and ate lunch, trying out what I learned that afternoon, absorbing some more material the next day, experimenting again, and poof … I’d learned a lot. Maybe even a masters-level amount. And since I have a master’s degree, yes, I’d say it was a masters-level amount. I’m sorry … that is amazing.

Now—to do this you’ve got to be nearly possessed, a bit manic, a touch rabid, unquenchably thirsty, and completely insatiable. But hey, if you are, then you’ve got yourself a master’s degree. (I prefer podcasts to YouTube because my form of ADD requires me to be moving around. But others have done it with YouTube.)

36.  Join the audiobook revolution. Like podcast interviews, it opens up a whole new world that might have been closed to you.

37.  Journal. It will improve your life and add layers to your experiences. And it may save you some time and money with the therapist … it has for me. (This is worthy of an entire essay and I’ll write it one day.)

38.  See a therapist. If you are having destructive thoughts or taking destructive actions or going round and round like a border collie wearing a path in the yard or saying things to your spouse that used to stay in your own head or saying things to yourself that would shock someone if they heard them, then doggonit, it’s time. Get some help. See a therapist. You are out of control and it is time to hit the pause button and talk to someone who doesn’t know you, someone paid to listen to you, someone with a degree in listening and helping.

I remember being in that place once. I remember the loss of control I had never experienced. I remember being shocked at my own thoughts. I stopped at work one day and looked up the mental health section of my healthcare. It was now time and nothing was going to stop me.

I didn’t like the first therapist I met. Nor the second. The third did the trick. Gail was her name. And I learned, just like with a lot of things in life, you’ve got to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince. (princess)

39.  Grow spiritually. What does it benefit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? It benefits him nada. Not one bit. Nothing else matters if you don’t have this one down.

Find a way. Find a podcast you can enjoy. Find a preacher you like. Find a writer who stimulates your soul. Read my next book. Do something … do anything … go to any measure to take care of your soul.

Grow stuff

40.  Grow a garden. Not to eat the produce. Not to share thirty pounds of zucchini with your family. But so you can learn how frustrating it is to grow stuff. Between too much sun and excitable birds and curious rats and insatiable squirrels and invisible bugs in the ground, you’ll learn why they use all those chemicals to grow stuff (not saying it’s good but just saying I see why they use it). Now you’ll appreciate the produce at Safeway more. And you may give a nice tip to the vegetable guy at the next Farmer’s Market you go to.

41.  Plant trees. Sometimes I feel like Johnny Appleseed. I plant trees as if I was trying to make up for something in my life, as if I lacked mental stability (no comment!), as if planting them would sustain me in the afterlife. But no, I just have this indescribable need to plant and nurture trees.

I built a trail to a local park that makes its way over the small mountain in my backyard. In the descending canyon just before the park I’ve planted oaks and carried water to them in two one-gallon jugs for years. I planted trees all up the hill in my backyard. I currently have fifteen oak saplings growing in pots … looking for homes.

I’m crazy, I know, but I – must – plant - trees.

42.  Learn your terroir … your little microclimate … your spot of earth … and feng shui the heck out of it. Don’t know feng shui? Study it and see if it doesn’t ignite something within you. It did me, and man, that led to ten years of fun.