How To Be Old (default)

Are you a bit skeptical about spirituality? Listen to a wise and pragmatic discussion from Mike Fitzsimons, poet and cancer survivor.

We all hit obstacles with our computers and smartphones and tablets, but IT issues in later life can seem especially tricky. That might be partly because of normal age-related changes like arthritis, poor eyesight, or short term memory failings. Or it might be because we’ve retired, because at work we might have had an IT […]

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. […]

Lesley and Richard Evans discuss their adventures in home gardening. Gardening is exercise, nature, achievement and fun at any age. Lesley is extremely brave, and Richard ups my horticultural knowledge big time

A simple, tiny answer to the question: 'What's a podcast?'

At 86 I'm hungry for role models who show me how they manage life in their 90s. Rachelle Calkoen may be 102 but she is fully engaged with the world.

How can you carry on driving safely and how will you know when you can't?

Meena Kadri is only 56 but she already has activities that will be fun in old age. She gets great pleasure from activities with friends who are decades older than her. They inevitably show her different ways of being old, and they bring surprising stories and wisdom and fun to their conversation. That’s one reason […]

Look, you don’t want to fall over, do you, especially if you’re old and your bones are brittle. Luckily there’s plenty of scientific evidence about how to build our strength and balance, and proof that it really works. Adrian Pretorius’s work helps to keep hundreds of people out of hospital. He’s got tips, apps, and […]

Here’s a very special discussion I recorded a couple of years ago with Judith Fyfe. As a trailblazing oral historian in New Zealand she has vast experience in recording the voices of older people, for example, World War I veterans and our centenarians. As a young journalist and talkback host, Judith Fyfe started to learn […]

Do you keep making New Year resolutions as you age? I learn from local people up to age 50. How about in your 60s or 70s or 80s: do you change your approach to resolutions? I'd love to know!

Anyone can keep a diary or journal. It's easy, you can't fail. For older people it brings special benefits. Plus, less embarrassing like the diaries of youth, bless them.

Dancing as you age is starting to get traction as a belief. Silver Swans, social dancing, old time dancing, Barre — multiple groups for older dancers are spreading throughout the world. Diversity in dance finally includes old people dancing, even in public! Cancer nudged one-time dance educator Jan Bolwell out of her job and into a new life as a dancer, playwright, actor. For the last 26 years she's been the legendary leader of the Crows Feet Dance Collective. These women over 35 dance every week for a new show every year. I've been a member for 20 of those years. We're a mixed bunch when it comes to training (from zero to professional) and skills, but we all dance for the love of it. Abilities change with age and that's OK At 86 my difficulties with memory, slow reflexes and balance are becoming obvious, but there's usually still a place for me in the back row. Many members are in their beautiful prime of life but others have sore knees, sore backs, osteoporosis... Stop me, you get the picture. Jan and other empathetic choreographers (including , this year, Anna Groves, Carolyn McKeefry, Tania Kopytko and Sacha Copland) bind us together into a community, tightly knit as friends who dance together. Dancing is different in old age. But you can dance sitting down, dance just with your feet or eyes or creaky old hands if nothing else works. It's terrific to have an activity which you adore and which you can carry on from 2 years to 92 years. (That's my plan.) A few examples of dance groups for older dancers Creating Dance with Elders, and How to See It (Illinois Theatre) ENBEldersCo English National Ballet Crows Feet Dance Collective Silver Swans (Royal Academy of Dance) Rebound Dance Company Christchurch Australasian Dance Collective Mature Artists Dance Experience (MADE) I could add hundreds and thousands of other dance groups: it's a thing! And Jan Bolwell started one of the first on that list with Crows Feet Dance Collective.