People often put “older” and “wiser” in the same sentence. I am no longer convinced of the inevitable correlation of those two things.

I am not sure what it was about the last year, but I have found myself feeling far from wise, and more unsure of things that I used to understand. This isn’t actually a piece on growing and changing, I honestly don’t feel like I have the words for that right now. This is about being 34 and feeling like I am not getting any smarter. I feel like I need school, I need to learn things again, and reboot my brain.

I actually got jealous of my computer this afternoon when it was working really slowly. I turned it off, waited a minute, and turned it back on. After that, it was just fine. My brain needs that feeling. Does anyone else forget completely common words all the time? Or is that just me. I feel like Ariel, but without the voice, the mermaid thing, and upsetting the gender normativity.

So, I am doing a few things this week to fight the impending dumb. (See what I did there?) I am reading a whole book by Friday, taking a class online, going to a museum, and starting yoga again. I will report back on Friday and be totally honest about my brain work this week. If nothing works, it’s all downhill from here.

Image via Parks