From outside the box

It seems that as we age, we settle deeper into habit's we've been cultivating our whole life. For example: I never did care much for parties or going places where there were crowds. Now mind you, I am not a shy person and I don't have any phobia's about being in crowds, it's just that these kind of events bore me. And it seems that the older I get the more they bore me.

I thank my lucky stars every year when the Silver Dollar fair comes around that my kids are old enough that I don't have to go there any more. I also avoid new years eve parties, most parties, mixers, street fairs, parades, food fairs, craft shows, just about anything where I have to fight my way thru shoulder to shoulder crowds. Now I understand that many of these events are good for Chico, and I appreciate living in a community that supports them. I also appreciate my freedom of choice to avoid them.

I'll tell you what my thing is with parties. Nobody talks about anything important at parties. Small talk is boring. Have you ever noticed when there is a group of people, small or large, having a conversation, how the conversation cannot elevate any higher than the most dimwitted of the group? You can be having a great discussion about politics or religion and then some idiot who is bored with the conversation (or just isn't getting it) will quickly change it over to sports or their aunt Martha's medical condition? When that happens, everybody has to pay attention out of common courtesy and the more interesting conversation that was going on gets lost. Group conversations flow kind of like water, always seeking the lowest common ground.

The thing about large gatherings is my sensitivity to vibrations, or group consciousness. Everybody feels this, some more so than others. It's like walking the runway at the Silver Dollar Fair and feeling the "crankster trailer trash vibe". It's not everybody, but still, it gets overwhelming. I think a lot of it is from the people working the fairs. Side note....I've always found it amazing that we trust the safety of our children when they go on these rides to the toothless cranksters who are working the controls as well as having assembled the rides! But in all fairness, I have to say that maybe it's not that way at fairs anymore, it's been a lot of years since I've been to any....On the other hand, I've experienced many gatherings where you look around and think to yourself, "Now these are my kind of people." I've felt that at events like the farmers market on Saturday mornings, a Moody Blues concert in Sacramento, or sometimes even in a crowded coffee shop. I don't think I would feel that at the Silver Dollar Races, a monster truck show in Redding, or a rodeo in Red Bluff. Not that they are "bad" people in anyway, there's just a group consciousness there that does not resonate with me.

Even when you "resonate" with a crowd, there's still the fact that you have to put up with being in a crowd. And like I said, the older I get, the more I try to avoid the crowd experience. Am I getting too set in my ways? Maybe. I like to think of it more like....life is too short to waste it on experiences that don't do anything for me, or....the older I get, the more I know what I like and what I don't like and I don't want to waste my time on what I don't like. To me it's not about how many experiences I can have but rather refining my life's experiences. It's not about the quantity of people I'm around but rather being with quality people. And this also applies to music, food, games, movies, just about every aspect of life. Life is about change and the law of change says that as you loose something, you gain something. Indeed we loose a lot of things as we age, but hopefully the things we gain out weigh in value the things we loose.