Older women are the happiest demographic in this country—but you wouldn’t know it based on how our culture talks about them. Mary Pipher, author of _Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age, joins us to set the record straight.
If you’re a woman, you’ve probably internalized a million messages about the horrors of getting older: changing bodies, diminished careers, invisibility everywhere. But Mary Pipher wants you to know there’s more to aging than gray hair—there’s also incredible resilience, growth, and even bliss. And the more we build those skills now, the better off we’ll all be.
“It’s in everybody's benefit, not just older people’s benefit, to have a new way of redefining older people that is not in terms of loss and diminishment, but in terms of growth.”
—Mary Pipher, author of Women Rowing North
Whatever life stage you’re in, this interview will speak to you—promise. We talk about:
- Why ageism is probably a bigger problem for older women than agin.
- The resilience of older people—and how all of us can bump up our resilience skills now.
- Why “friendshipping is a verb”—and why building lifetime friendships is “an emotional and mental health insurance policy” for women.
- Finding gratefulness and joy, even when things are tough.
- How to transcend our former selves, so we don’t just adapt as we age, but actually savor changes.
- Handling loss and the power of being with loved ones in their final days.
- What’s next for Mary: a 25th anniversary edition of her groundbreaking book, Reviving Ophelia, which changed the way we look at adolescent girls.
Plus: On our way to a 50-year friendship, caftans on the beach, and why every book needs a launch party with a book cake.
(Author photo by Sarah Greder)
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