My daughter is training to be a tax accountant. She is fresh out of university, having done four years of chemistry, and now she faces another five years of hard study. The Chartered Accountancy exams, which she must do before the tax exams, are recognised worldwide as being one of the most difficult professional qualifications. I did them forty years ago and I remember having to work very hard indeed to pass them. In fact, I failed a couple of times because I didn’t work hard enough. Forty-five years ago, I flew through my O levels, A levels and degree on sheer cheek and luck, so working hard for the professional exams came as a big shock. My daughter has already passed the first three exams on the basic certification course, and passed them well, but then, she’s worked hard – she always has done because she’s never been one of those children who can just skate through exams without working.

I too, have started to study. I’ve started a course of theology and I’m finding it tough. So far, the academic demands are not taxing (they will be later), but the quantity of reading and giving feedback to the course leaders on that reading is hard. I haven’t studied for forty years, and my brain is just not used to that kind of input. Reading for study is very different from reading for pleasure.

Research shows that it’s good for your brain to learn new skills and that stimulating your brain in this way keeps it healthy as you age. It’s good to have an active brain inside an active body. Several people I know of my age have taken up a new language. That is not for me: I tried to learn Spanish a few years ago when I broke my leg and had to stay on the sofa for six weeks with nothing to do. That was enough to convince me that English is the only language I can master with any skill whatsoever. I have now forgotten all the Spanish I learned – apart from remembering that a duck is el pato. Don’t ask me how I can remember that one!

My aunt took up playing the piano at the age of eighty, and a friend of mine took up the ukelele at a similar age and now plays in a ukelele band. I heard them play at the local community event last year and they’re really very good. My husband’s cousin has taken up tennis in her sixties.

It makes me wonder what physical activity I should take up in addition to the study. The problem is that I’ve never been that fond of sport. I like swimming and walking – not running – and that’s about it. The idea of tennis fills me with horror! Perhaps I should take up piano like my aunt.

How many of you are of 'a certain age?' Have you exposed yourself to new experiences and challenges, whether mental or physical? What would you recommend?

Mary

A Moodscope member