I'm Rachel McAlpine, born in 1940. If you ever become old, you will still be you. But nearly everything else will change and that's pretty interesting.
Reading the feed…
I asked Deborah Shepard to talk about writing your life story, because she has been teaching a course on memoir writing for 20 years. Tips are especially useful as you get older, because your life story gets longer and longer and longer! The rewards for writing a memoir will surprise you, I think, because they can be profound. Not financial rewards for most of us, but rewards such as confidence, understanding, wisdom, excitement, camaraderie and pride. I've written a lot of books myself, so some of Deborah's ideas were naturally familiar to me. But I also got some totally new ideas from her, w
I enjoy reading tips from a centenarian about why they've lived so long and stayed so perky. Now well over 100, Doris Carnevali devised an original system for tackling the never-ending problems of daily life in extreme old age, and reasons for gratitude. Whether you are almost old, already old, or never-gonna-be-old, she is my role model for positive ageing. I'm sharing three key chapters from my book based on her blog, The Sturdy Centenarian. A simple mantra to stop herself from falling her ABC for meeting the everyday challenges of very old age And some surprising things to be grateful for,
Even as toddlers we start establishing ourselves as autonomous individuals, and we turn up the volume in our teens. Then in old age we are obliged (or expected) to gradually surrender some decisions, some control over our lives. How are we to navigate these changes? Defending our autonomy is a serious business at any age. In this bonus episode, the Sturdy Centenarian rages against “thoughtless condescension.” We intuitively want to be boss of ourselves. In old age, when we notice others deciding and acting on our behalf, that hurts. Doris Carnevali has figured out how to deal with this. Retire
I yearn for good conversation in old age, and I have problems. There's tons of advice about how to talk TO old people. But I AM that old person, and I need help too. So I asked Kirsty Ferguson for help. In my 80s, I'm hard of hearing and slow to process information. I miss the jokes, I interrupt, give unsolicited advice, repeat myself and lose track. I'm sometimes silent and sometimes rude. So I asked some kind strangers on Cuba Street and Kirsty Ferguson for insights and advice about what makes a good conversation. They certainly came through! Kirsty is an experienced disputes moderator and c
Do old people like me use different proverbs than young people? We got them from our parents and grandparents and teachers, who got them from the Bible and Shakespeare and other writers. I was pretty sure that today's young people have different ones,probably with different messages. I needed a panel of young people to explain this to me, so my grandson Max McAlpine, age 27, and Gabriella Eaton, 26, enlightened me. I wonder what proverbs and sayings you say to yourself. Or to other people, especially young people? Do they even understand you? and what do they mean?
Easy aging? Bring it on! Forget about aging successfully, positively, wisely, productively. They all sound rather difficult. Let's age the natural way, your way. At 75 I had an Easy Aging Year, and started 12 tiny lifestyle habits. I gained clarity, confidence and optimism about old age. So can you. Don't miss this episode if you think you might be old one day! I'm the guest this time! My host Hetty Hellriegel asks me some personal questions. Why am I so fixated on the phenomenon of aging? How long do I expect to live? Why was my Boot Camp for the Bonus Years not a boot camp? What is an easy a
I was born in 1940 and I'm learning how to be old. So Lotta Dann talks here about sobriety in old age. Everything is different when you’re older, and that includes why we drink, how we drink, and the social environment in which we drink. Lotta Dann made a huge impression on New Zealand and abroad with her secret project to give up drinking: alcohol, that is. She wrote a daily diary as a blog describing her struggles, which became a best-seller book: Mrs D is going without. She now carries on with what is now her passion: helping others who want to change their drinking habits. With kindness! L
The face of old age, your own old age, takes a bit of getting used to. When I was only 74 and I still had a bad case of ageism, I didn’t like the look of old people. Now I look in the mirror and I see an old woman’s face — and strange to say, I don’t particularly care. Dr Susanna Kent and I recorded this episode on my 85th birthday and we had a lot of fun, which I’m keen to share with you. Why the face of old age is not a pretty one I demanded that Susanna explain why I’ve got dead-gorse-bush hair, non-existent eyebrows, and so many scars and wrinkles. I questioned random pedestrians: as you’l
Lesley and Richard Evans discuss adventures in home gardening. Gardening is exercise, nature-bathing, achievement and fun at any age. There are so many ways of gardening, one for every personality, and ways that work from the cradle to the grave. He is busy planting and growing and weeding a big range of fruit and vegetables in their city garden, and she is harvesting and eating and preserving and giving the rest away. They're both in their 80s, which is not that unusual for gardeners. That's because if you get the opportunity, gardening is something you can enjoy from the age of 3 to 93, at l
I'm often asked this question: 'What's a podcast?' Here's a simple explanation. It's obvious that the asker has not yet ventured into the wonderful world of podcasts. You don't exactly stumble across podcasts, especially independent podcasts like mine, so I am making a few little videos that open the door. They're simplistic, because the person I've got in mind is a blank slate. Once they get it, they're into that wonderful podcast world of learning, laughing and lolling around. If you know someone who is curious but only half-interested in podcasts, and you want them to try a particular podca
