Did you know that most museums actually make people feeling better?
They do. Almost no one leaves a museum in a huff. Instead, it is an experience people leave talking about, a chance to learn and – with the exception of attending museums on deeply serious topics – have fun at the same time. Watch people on their way out of a museum. They are animated, happy, smiling, sharing, even debating what they found interesting. Then, they have a moment or two of transition, like coming out of a live show back into the “real” world. They were transported to a different place and time for however long they were in the exhibits. Not much in our world does that for us. Which means museum going is something us senior-boomers should do more often. I call it the great museum experience.
Museums Make Us Think and Experience
I’ve written about the joy of attending live theatre and live entertainment on these pages. There is a corollary for us boomers, especially when it comes to boosting our now-boomer-senior brain-power: experience museums.
We all know that spending money on experiences makes us happier than spending money on stuff, especially with a membership that helps you save big on admissions . A vacation makes you happier than the same amount of money spent on – say- repainting your house. Both are valuable, but the one you’ll be talking about and enjoying in memory for years to come is the vacation, the experience. The point is: we love experiences.
Now, what’s so special about museums as an experience? Well, first, a museum experience makes you think. You bring yourself to the exhibit and the exhibit brings itself to you. It is a dialogue, a chance to respond, to think and to talk to others. Few experiences give you all that. It can also be a once in a lifetime chance to see and learn something you’ve never seen before. Us boomer-seniors relish opportunities like that. Even if we think the exhibit is crazy or we don’t understand a bit of it, it gives us a chance to engage, think, talk, reflect, and enjoy the overall experience.
Museums become a part of who we are. Think about that for a moment – who we are based on a museum experience is just as much a part of our make up as who we are going to a live sports event or a live entertainment event. We soak it in, remember it, talk about it, and it reflects in our personality. I remember crazy exhibits that I just didn’t “get” from ten years ago, and when I think back on them, I muse that there probably was something there to learn from.
Museums are a place to learn things our college and high school courses never had time to teach. Not many of us had a chance to study Greek sculpture, but spend an hour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s sculpture galleries and you’ll have a sense of being there, experiencing ancient Greece through marble and the informational signs that go with it. And exhibits are becoming more and more about leading you through new ideas.
Be a Part of Something
I recently walked all the way through an exhibit on the artistic and creative relationship between Picasso and Miro and it was not just illuminating: it made me a fan of work I had never liked, and it left a powerful impact of their creative time, place in h istory, and so much more. It changed me, just like going to, say, a Packer’s Game at Lambeau changes a person. You are a part of something! (And going to the Packer museum at Lambeau is a big part of the trip, just as going to other sports teams’ museums is a big deal. You come away with such a wealth of knowledge that it makes the entire experience so much better.)
One great thing about museums is that you can self-direct and self-edit. Because you can choose where to spend time, digging into a subject, and avoiding other areas of the museum. Of course, you don’t need to see everything. But you can learn a lot about those things you do see. I’ve always loved doing that in museums – concentrating on a few rooms or exhibits and getting the most I can out of them, feeling fascination with the exhibit, and leaving the rest for another visit. Importantly, that kind of self-directed learning is what matters to us, both when we were children and now as boomer-seniors.
Experience it Now
I remember a magical moment we had one visit at the fabulous Buffalo Bill Center museum in Cody WY when our children were young. Rather than try to absorb everything – impossible! – our oldest who was about 11 at the time took photos. “Why?” I asked. “Because I like these and want to learn about them,” he said. He was saving the learning time for later and just absorbing the experience for now. We should all be so smart!
So why do museums matter as experiences? We are visually stimulated, we are using our brains in ways we aren’t even aware of, and we are absorbing something new and possibly challenging that will leave us with plenty to reflect on for days, weeks, or even years to come. It is enriching, part of what I refer to on these pages as living an enriched boomer-seniors life. Don’t miss it especially when there are bargain admissions to be found. Enjoy.
- Morningmountainview
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