renaissance person

024: Could This Be Your Renaissance Era?

Mar 29, 2024 • 2 min read

Renaissance person : someone who has wide interests and is expert in several areas

"He's such a renaissance man..."

I can't recall when I've been described as such - though I'd welcome the tag.

Let's talk about how to become a "renaissance person."

That could describe how you expand your horizons while aging.

These days I'm choosing to live my life on a "higher plane."

I'm done with narrow-minded, locked-in, biased perspectives and formulas for living my best life.

Failing to look outward to what's possible (for you) as age can keep you stuck in someone else's agenda for growth and longevity.

Stop thinking and living like everyone else - make this your "renaissance era" and develop a range of compelling interests

I believe that one of the gifts of life in the second-half is being able to disconnect from other's expectations.

Your few decades of life experience have earned you the opportunities to be more contrarian about life.

Each of those mindsets create a foundation for becoming a renaissance person.

On par with physical movement is mental and intellectual movement.

Your aging brain will remain more adaptable, flexible, and elastic the more you stretch your mental capacity.

A broad range of interests helps keep you from growing stale in your thinking and intellect.

The idea that "I already know more than I put into practice..." is a cop-out.

It's not about the practice in this instance as much as it's about the mental stretching.

Explore ideas and subjects outside of your comfort zone. Read diverse genres, watch TED Talks, YouTube videos, and documentaries on varied subject matters.
Like the domino effect - let differing connections between ideas and subject matter topple into the next. Extract practical perspectives from history to help you form new insights into future actions.
Talk amongst yourselves. Productive dialogue about topics and ideas help you experience another's perspective - even differing ones.

Comfort zones keep you from experiencing personal growth and resilience.

As you age, your grit-factor can diminish - though it's perhaps one of your most essential qualities to navigating second-half of life challenges.

Set goals that fit you. Achievable goals that are manageable give you motivation to push through the hard-things.
Embrace failure as part of the process. Setbacks in health, wellness, career and retirement planning, and relationships are resilience builders.
Practice mindfulness. Unhook yourself from the woo-woo about this. Meditation and journalling are timeless practices to keep you grounded in second-half storms.

You might not consider yourself a creative person.

But the mere effort you make to renaissance your aging journey naturally develops creativity in you.

Innovation is fueled by having a broad range of interests.

Cross-polinate your ideas. Inspiration is everywhere and it creates a solution-focus rather than a reactive focus.
Experiment. Whoever said there is only one way to do something? Push the boundaries and let creativity thrive.
Collaborate with diverse people. Those from different backgrounds, socio-economic status, careers, religious beliefs, and expertise will stoke your creative-juices.

I choose higher-plane living!

Join me...the views are incredible!

Press on...

Eddie