Never Too Old to Learn: Ruth's Inspiring Story

Ruth, an 86-year-old Learner from Jacksonville, Florida, found GetSetUp during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it changed her life. She has made friends from all over the world and has taken a variety of classes that have kept her engaged and mentally stimulated. 

"I don't know how I found GetSetUp, but I loved it. I have made a lot of friends on GetSetUp. I won't meet them in person, but I feel we are friends, and I loved it,” Ruth said. 

Ruth has taken a variety of classes and enjoys following her favorite Guides. From Sunday mornings with Community Led sessions with Norman to Guide Bernadette’s classes to help people deal with other people and their own emotions. There are classes for everyone. 

“I took every class that Donna taught. Plus, every music and art class. Now it’s Glenda’s classes that I’m following and Natalie's. Just the other day, I found Steven’s classes, and I’m really enjoying them as well,” said Ruth. 

Ruth has also shared GetSetUp with her husband. While he hasn’t used it as much as her and has his own routine of things he likes to do, he still enjoys attending some sessions as well. 

“He will sit in on Terry’s classes on ‘The News & Worrying About What To Believe’.”

Constantly Expanding Her Knowledge Base and Personal Wellness

Ruth takes part in various classes, including the Community-led session on ‘What are you reading and watching,’ which she has done for the last three years. She likes this group because everyone gives recommendations on what they are reading. She considers it a trusted group to get good reading recommendations. Plus, she enjoys the camaraderie of the community and feels like she knows them. She appreciates that she can keep up with her friends on GetSetUp and feels like she has adopted a few people. From Cheryl in Pennsylvania, who helps her with technology, to another friend in Alabama, and she has even been invited to a book club by a fellow learner in New York. 

She states, "We are like a club with the same shared interest."

Ruth is a regular exerciser and enjoys Pilar’s walking class, which is one of the few sessions she watches repeatedly. She is amazed to be the same age as ‘old people’ and laughs when she tells Guide Glenda that she could be her daughter. 

Ruth is grateful that the classes were free for her thanks to her local area agency on the aging partnership during the pandemic. She took advantage of them as much as she could then and continues to attend them regularly. 

She currently loves Glenda's meditation and stress management classes. She always tries to attend Glenda’s classes, especially the meditation classes, unless she has a conflict. 

She admits that she is not very tech-savvy and that her husband fusses at her because she didn't grow up with all the technology. However, she is open to learning new things and is always looking for new exercise classes. Ruth finds the art classes and drawing intriguing and enjoyed these sessions. She is also fond of Cyndi's Apple Watch and gratitude classes.

While Ruth has had trouble adjusting to changes on the site at times, she appreciates the GetSetUp support and their quick response. She feels that the passionate expert Guides make learning easy. She spent a whole year of the pandemic just doing GetSetUp, and it was essential to her well-being. Now she considers it an important mix of the activities she does regularly both locally and virtually.