The New Reality of Aging: Why Adaptation May Be the Most Important Skill of Elderhood
There was a time when getting older followed a fairly predictable script. You worked. You retired. You collected Social Security. You slowed down. The children worried about you. Eventually somebody started asking whether you should still be driving. That was the script. But something very interesting is happening. The script is being rewritten. People are […]
Make Plans for the Person You’re Becoming
You can reach an age when people ask more about what you used to do than what you would like to do next. Where did you work? Where did you live? What were the children like when they were small? Those are worthwhile conversations. You have lived a life worth remembering. But sometimes it feels […]
Your Calendar Should Hold More Than Appointments
There comes a point in life when you look at your calendar and realize that almost everyone looking forward to seeing you is wearing a white coat. Monday: bloodwork. Wednesday: the dentist. Friday: someone wants to discuss a part of your body that used to manage perfectly well without a committee. Add a prescription pickup, […]
You Are Not Too Old — You May Just Need a New Version of Your Life
There is a strange thing that happens as we get older. People begin speaking to us as if the important parts of life are behind us. Retirement becomes the finish line. Children are grown. Careers wind down. The house may get quieter. Friends move away, get sick, or disappear from our lives. And suddenly the […]
The Quiet Courage of Growing Older
There is a kind of courage nobody prepares you for. It is not the courage of going off to war, starting a business, raising children, or standing in front of a room full of people. It is the quieter courage of getting older. The courage of waking up one morning and realizing that the world […]
The Antidote to Malaise: How to Keep Life Feeling Alive After 70
There comes a point in later life when the problem is not necessarily illness. It is not necessarily money. It is not always loneliness either. Sometimes the problem is harder to name. You wake up. You make the coffee. You check the news. You take your medications. You go to the supermarket. Maybe you watch […]
The Strange Feeling of Growing Older in a World That No Longer Feels Familiar
There is a peculiar experience that comes with living a long life. You wake up one morning and realize that the world outside your window is still technically the same world—but somehow it feels different. The stores you remember are gone. The restaurants have changed. The people you used to call are no longer there. […]
Starting Over After 70: Why Reinvention May Be the Most Important Skill of Aging
There is a strange assumption built into the way we talk about old age. We speak as though life is supposed to become settled. The career is finished. The children are grown. The house is paid for, or nearly paid for. The routines are established. You know who you are. You know what you like. […]
The Last Third of Life Is Not a Waiting Room
There is a strange cultural idea about aging that deserves to be challenged. For most of our lives, we are expected to be moving toward something. As children, we are becoming students. As students, we are preparing for work. We build careers, raise families, buy homes, save money, make plans, and spend decades thinking about […]
Why Friendship Gets Harder After 70 — And Why It Matters More Than Ever
Nobody warns you about this part of getting older. Your world can slowly become smaller. Not because you planned it that way. It just happens. A friend moves away. Someone stops driving at night. A spouse becomes ill. A neighbor dies. The people you used to see at work disappear from your daily life. A […]