This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Expanding the Circle

More friends, more ideas, more fun.

Meg Ryan sits at a desk, typing a note into her computer. She is writing to an anonymous friend in an over-30 chat room. As she types, she thinks, “I lead a small life, well, valuable but small and sometimes I wonder: Do I do it because I like it or because I haven’t been brave?” The movie is You’ve Got Mail.

Too often I find myself thinking the same thought, especially as I get a little bit older, so last year I decided to do something about it. I decided to study something new, push myself out there and try something that’s oceans away from my everyday life.

Just over a year ago, a good friend of mine encouraged me to apply to our local community college and enroll in her class. She is a smart and charismatic woman and I found it hard to say no, so I ventured onto the website, figured out how to apply and signed up for her class, The Elements and Principles of Design. Keep in mind that I have absolutely no background in architecture or design so this was quite a leap of faith. I managed to arrange for a parking permit online, find the administrative offices and get a student id picture taken, feeling all along that I was probably one of the oldest prospective students to ever set foot on campus. Nonetheless, I found the building, then the classroom, making it to class early and anxious with the textbook and a large set of razor sharp Exacto knives and a stack of foam core in hand.  What I found to my surprise, after stepping out of the small place I call my life was an extraordinary and unexpected expansion of my circle.

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Community college is extraordinary because it is made up of a richly diverse group of people. My teacher was adamant that no one make apologies, no apologies for background, no apologies for inexperience, no apologies for foreign accents, cultural differences, age, no apologies for anything as long as you were willing to listen, collaborate openly with your support group and work hard you could be a part of the class. I loved that. I accepted the challenge and was swept up in the excitement of the experience. My teacher’s love for her subject was contagious. I loved studying the works of masters in architecture, learning the vocabulary, building my projects and giving presentations to the class but the best part was making a new set of passionate, funny and hard working friends. I have continued taking classes at community college, a color theory class last semester and a graphic techniques class this semester, challenging, interesting subjects shared with excellent teachers and great new friends.

I read an article written by Paula Spencer on iVillage.com last year about ways to deal with getting older. She said that you should expand your circle of friends because as people age they change and sometimes leave. The thought stuck with me and I have shared the idea with friends, but instead of talking about expanding the circle as a way of dealing with getting old, I shared it like this: expand your circle of friends so you can experience what life has to offer and as a way of staying young. Afterall, “the only people who grow old were born old to begin with.” Cary Grant said this. Be a person who was born young and who will stay young. Be courageous, try new things, venture out, join something, take an Apple class, set up a Facebook, extend a hand and expand the circle so that when lives change, sensibilities change, priorities change and people move on, a strong network of support, the circle, your circle will be there. 

Find out what's happening in Los Gatoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?