3 things in 9 days...

[emily_in_nc]

+1 on learning a new language! I've spent extensive time over the past couple of years learning Spanish, and living in Mexico for a year gave my brain a real workout. However, I can tell that learning Spanish has been harder for me than French was back in high school/college. I just don't have as good a memory as I did back then, though I still understand the concepts, of course.

I do lots of reading and although some of it is easy mysteries and such, I do try to challenge myself by reading historical fiction and other genres that are a bit more challenging. I'm currently participating in a 2016 "Read Harder" challenge that has had me reading things like science books, books by authors of different ethnicities, etc. It's been fascinating.

Since I'm no longer working, I have to try twice as hard to keep the old noggin active. Fortunately, traveling full-time as we do and planning for these travels, is also a great brain exercise; dealing with maps, finding our way around new places, and visiting historic sites, etc. Even cycling and figuring out routes has got to be as good a brain exercise as crossword puzzles, I think!

[ny biker]

+1 on learning a new language! I've spent extensive time over the past couple of years learning Spanish, and living in Mexico for a year gave my brain a real workout. However, I can tell that learning Spanish has been harder for me than French was back in high school/college. I just don't have as good a memory as I did back then, though I still understand the concepts, of course.

I'm trying to learn a new programming language for work, and am experiencing something similar. It seems to take more effort to learn complex things than it did years ago. Although I guess motivation and interest level is part of it -- I have no problem learning and remembering new roads in areas where I plan vacations or bike rides. And I agree that it is a great brain exercise dealing with maps and finding routes. (Honestly if I could find someone to pay me a decent wage to plan bike rides, I'd take it in a heartbeat.)

[emily_in_nc]

I'm trying to learn a new programming language for work, and am experiencing something similar. It seems to take more effort to learn complex things than it did years ago. Although I guess motivation and interest level is part of it -- I have no problem learning and remembering new roads in areas where I plan vacations or bike rides. And I agree that it is a great brain exercise dealing with maps and finding routes. (Honestly if I could find someone to pay me a decent wage to plan bike rides, I'd take it in a heartbeat.)

Yes, I agree with all of this! In my last few years at work (software engineering), I still learned a ton of new things -- different devices, protocols, etc, so my brain was obviously still firing on all cylinders. But the things that were less interesting to me, I tended to tune out, especially once I knew I was a short-timer. At that point, who cared?

And a job planning bike routes would be a blast -- have you ever thought of applying at Adventure Cycling? I remember seeing job ads for them in the past. Probably doesn't pay all that well, but what fun!