Lady Kirsten - What good did I do today?

HAC Presenters Series 10

Ageless Mind Project

May 19, 2023

Lady Kirsten has tackled a lot of challenges in her career as a corporate project manager focused on SCADA and IPSEC (cyber security) engineering and special projects facilitation, but her transition to life as an avatar in Second Life (SL) has been and continues to be one of the most engaging and rewarding. “Second Life has given me opportunities to explore my creativity in ways that I never had time for before,” she says. “I am also enjoying social interactions with like-minded people, and the ability and opportunities to be proactive, contribute to, and give back to others.”

Although the activities she enjoys most in SL are not much different from those in her first life, she has been able to indulge her love of dancing, “I can dance all night and better than I ever did in physical reality,” and has taken to building (what she calls “pushing pixels around”) as an outlet for her creativity. “It’s gradually getting to be as satisfying as my first life projects,” she says. “Not quite yet, but I think it will be.”

Of all her experiences in Second Life, Kirsten believes the intellectual challenges are the ones that are helping her age well. “I am meeting people my age who are excited about enjoying their ‘younger selves’ as they mature, and I think it is enabling me to accept the physical challenges I must cope with in my first life. SL gives me a vacation from my first life challenges, and I can do everything I used to do, only better.”

Kirsten first came into Second Life in November of 2022. “I was offered an opportunity to participate in a research project focused on PTSD therapies in a virtual world and said yes,” she says. Today, her focus in SL continues to be recovery of from agoraphobia, exploration, and the development of her creative skills. “My cardio nurse, first-life therapist (who hasn't seen me for an office visit in five years), and my son all in agree that I am a more well-rounded and happier person when I spend time in SL.”

Kirsten is also committed to finding ways to have a positive impact in both worlds. “I want to make a positive contribution to others around me,” she says. “At the end of every day I ask myself, ‘what good did I do today?’"

Kisten’s presentation for the Healthful Aging Through Lifelong Learning Conference is entitled, “Senior Voices - Stronger and Wiser with Age.” In it, she will discuss how seniors can proactively take part in government and share little known perks elders are entitled to.

Date: Friday, May 19th
Time: 3:30 pm (SLT)
6:30 pm (EDT)
10:30 pm (GMT)

Location: HAC Main Stage
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Inspiration%20Bay/211/124/21

About Kirsten (in her own words)

My second life evolved much as my first, but with more time to enjoy it instead of so much working! However, I am still very much involved in projects that hopefully make life better for whatever world I am in. Around my creative undertakings and modest social life in SL I undertook what I believe the most complex, ambitious project for life long learning than ever I had in my first life (real if you insist), to be revealed we hope this summer. Now in my FL, I was a corporate project manager backed up by SCADA and IPSEC (cyber security) engineering for 2+ decades interspersed with another decade or so of special projects. Projects that allowed me to work at national levels towards positive outcomes for major tertiary education institutions, medical legislation and other local community focused initiatives. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to live, play and work in, amongst, and across multiple countries and cultures including numerous states in the U.S. It brought me riches for mind and soul I never expected. When my circumstances changed and I could no longer travel like that; I missed all of it so much, especially my far flung friends. In SL, I unexpectedly found new ones, some also in far flung places, new challenges and new projects right around the corner and down the hall to my computer room. My first life is happier, and I believe better balanced, complimented by my second life. A full circle? Indeed!

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