The changing of interests

I am not sure what it is...Age? Boredom? Progression?

Let me explain: I went skiing yesterday, something that I haven't done in a few years. I have never been a big skier...I taught myself in my mid-teens, and soon after could get down almost anything, though not always gracefully. The years that I do go up, it only once or twice, but I do fairly well and ski mostly black diamond. Anyway, yesterday I helped some fellow grad students take some interviewing students skiing on Mt Hood, with everything paid for by our department. The weather was great, which was a surprise for us locals (and a good lie for the interviewees, since it is not the kind of weather we normally have).

But as I sat talking with others on the ski lifts, I noticed something had changed within me. My heart just wasn't excited by this sport like I used to be.

Growing up I was always big into the snow. I loved it! My parents still comment on how excited I would get when it would snow at home or when we would head to the mountain to go sledding. What has changed within me? I still love the snow, but it is different. I don't need or want to perfect the art of racing down the mountain on two narrow planks.

And as I reflect on other hobbies of mine, things have changed there too. I am ready to put many of them to rest. This is strange, though, since there were times when these very same hobbies are what got me out of bed, stirred my heart, monopolized my attention.

Is it that I am getting too old for them, and my body just can't handle the abuse? Sure I had one nasty fall yesterday, that has me limping from the bruise on my hip (being in the top 10 of my age group in the upcoming Shamrock 5K is now looking questionable). But, I am thinking it is not the physical pain.

Am I bored with my current hobbies, and want something new? In my 30 years I have tried hang gliding, sky diving, scuba diving, rock climbing, mountain climbing, snow skiing, mountain rescue, wake boarding, triathlons/cycling/running races, unicycle races, basketball, baseball, soccer, track, cross country, along with slower hobbies like movie making, radio controlled model car building, piano, photography, and vegetable gardening. How much more is there to try? Maybe I am seeing that these hobbies don't provide satisfaction in life, though I don't think I went to them for that.

Maybe I am maturing to the place where I am looking for a new type of adventure, one that is very different and very much outside of me. Is this what people feel when they are ready to settle down, get married, and have kids?

Missions are also very much on my heart too, maybe for the same reason. As I finish up my PhD, I realize that the career possibilities for this type of degree just don't jive too well whith who I am. I love people, their hearts, their dreams, their pains...bench work deprives me of any interaction on this level. And anyway, the discoveries I am making in the lab aren't going to be helping anyone, at least not for many, many decades. I want my life to be based on something real, something practical, something productive on an interrelational level.

My adventurous side will always be with me, so I don't think that is where the change lies. Perhaps it is that I am longing for a new adventure, one that looks mighty different than those of my past.