Debbie brings her husband, Dr. Sam Harrington, back on the show to talk about end-of-life and how that relates to the topic of reinvention.
They talk about the inevitability of being forced to reinvent yourself in the last stage of your life when you gradually become disabled by disease and old age. It's a reinvention of mindset, if not of action.
It’s also a glass half full vs. glass half empty kind of conversation with Debbie saying, "But Sam, I’m one of those who really doesn’t want to think about the end of life." And Sam responding, "Well, you have to." The good news is that you can think about "the hard stop," as Debbie calls it, in a positive way. If you’ve been following Debbie and Sam's conversations on the podcast you know that Sam is very practical but also pretty wise.
If this all sounds like doom and gloom, it’s really not. This episode is an affirmation of the time that we have left and how we can use mindfulness around our own mortality to live better lives.
What they talk about:
- How getting closer to the end-of-life connects to the desire for reinvention that many of us crave
- Dr. Doom vs. Dr. Look Ahead: becoming more aware of the healthy time we have left is helpful
- Active reinvention vs. reinvention imposed on us as we become more limited and we adjust to that
- Sam's XYZ options as he looks ahead: both mental & physical challenges
- Debunking the idea that we're all living longer and that life expectancy is increasing. Not so, Sam says, if you define "living" as being vibrant and healthy
- The fear of dependency as you get very old (past 90 or 100)
- Looking at our parents’ health to get an idea of how we might age
- The difference between Medical Aid in Dying (MAD) and euthanasia
- On the topic of legacy: a traditional Jewish saying when someone dies is "May his or her memory be a blessing" (see links to 75th commemoration of Auschwitz liberation)
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Thanks to our Media Partners!
- Encore.org, an ideas and innovation hub tapping the talent of those 50+ as a force for good.
- Modern Elder Academy Navigating mid-life transitions: Grow Whole, Not Old.
- Next For Me Rewriting +50 life through new work, a new purpose, or a new social contribution.
