Much of my writing this month explored themes that sit alongside my forthcoming book, ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now. Through a series of essays and reflections, I examined some of the assumptions that often shape discussions about ageing, particularly the tendency to view later life through the narrow lenses of work, productivity, and employability.
March has been a busy month of writing, thinking, and continuing to develop ideas around ageing, identity, and later life.
Several pieces formed part of my ongoing Olderhood Unfolding series, including essays on ordinary ageing, longevity, emotional boundaries, and contribution beyond paid work. Alongside these were more personal reflections inspired by books, films, conversations, volunteering, and everyday experiences.
March also included time at the wood, where the first signs of spring were becoming more apparent. As always, the woodland continues to be both a place of practical work and a source of reflection. Many of the ideas that find their way into my writing begin there.
Themes in My March Writing
My Substack essays this month broadly explored four strands:
- Olderhood, identity, and ageing
- Purpose, work, and contribution
- Cultural reflections, including books and film
- Where ideas come from and how they develop
Rather than list everything, here are some representative pieces available on my SubStack – Ageing Reimagined.
Olderhood and ageing
- Why Tying Purpose Too Tightly to Work Harms Later Life
- The Defence of Ordinary Ageing
- What Gets Lost When Ageing Is Framed as an Employability Problem
- Contribution Without Productivity
- The Age of Longevity, and What It Reveals About Us
Reflections and culture
Watching BlackBerry: A Quiet Reflection on Technology, Memory, and Change
The Strange Life of Nursery Rhymes
Not Every Dance Floor Is Mine
In the Quiet Between Sentences: Reflections on Flesh
Ideas and conversations
The Materials We Think With
When Acknowledgement Changes Shape
Chesterton’s Fence: What We Lose When We Forget Why Things Were There
Media
March also saw two further commissions for The i Paper:
I’m a Boomer – We Should Ask the Over-50s to Contribute to Graduate Debt
The Happiest Jobs and the Ones People Regret Doing, According to a Career Psychologist
You can find links to these articles, together with other interviews and media appearances, on my Media page.
Looking Ahead
With spring arriving and publication of ThriveSpan drawing closer, many of the ideas I’ve been exploring over recent months are beginning to come together. I look forward to sharing more as the book moves towards publication.
