Eightysomethings: A Practical Guide to Letting Go, Aging Well, and Finding Unexpected Happiness
Written by Katharine Esty, PhD
Narrated by Janet Metzger
4/5
()
About this audiobook
This invaluable guide will help the historical number of eightysomethings live fulfilled, happy lives long into their twilight years.
Old age is not what it used to be. For the first time ever, most people in the United States are living into their eighties. The first guide of its kind, Eightysomethings changes our understanding of old age with an upbeat and emotionally savvy view of the uncharted territory of the last stage of life. With insight and humor, Dr. Katharine Esty describes the series of dramatic and difficult transitions that eightysomethings usually experience and how, despite their losses, they so often find themselves unexpectedly happy.
Living into one’s eighties doesn’t have to mean declining health and loneliness: Dr. Esty shows readers how to embrace—and thrive during—the later stages of life. Based on her more than 120 interviews around the country, Esty explores the lives of ordinary eightysomethings—their attitudes, activities, secrets, worries, purposes, and joys. Their stories illustrate how real people in their eighties are living and how they make sense of their lives. Esty adds her wisdom and perspective to this multi-dimensional look at being old as a social psychologist, a practicing psychotherapist, and as an eighty-four-year-old widow living in a retirement community.
Eightysomethings is a must-read for people in their eighties, and also for their families. Adult children—often bewildered by their aging parents—need a wise guide like Eightysomethings to help them navigate their parents’ last stage of life with real-world guidelines and conversation starters. Readers, young and old alike, will find this first-of-its-kind book eye-opening, comforting, and filled with practical tips.
Katharine Esty, PhD
Katharine Esty is a social psychologist, a practicing psychotherapist, a writer, and a change agent. She is the author of Workplace Diversity: A Manager’s Guide to Solving Problems and Turning Diversity into a Competitive Advantage, The Gypsies: Wanderers in Time, and Twenty-Seven Dollars and a Dream: How Muhammad Yunus Changed the World and What It Cost Him. The mother of four sons, she is focused on creating a new understanding of possibilities for living into old age. Esty, eighty-four, lives in a retirement community outside of Boston.
Related to Eightysomethings
Related audiobooks
Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old: A Highly Judgmental, Unapologetically Honest Accounting of All the Things Our Elders Are Doing Wrong Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Growing Old: Notes on Aging with Something Like Grace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Wonder of Aging: A New Approach to Embracing Life After Fifty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYounger Next Year for Women: Live Strong, Fit, and Sexy—Until You're 80 and Beyond Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Restoring Meaning and Dignity to End-Of-Life Care Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly: Life Wisdom from Someone Who Will (Probably) Die Before You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why Did I Come into This Room?: A Candid Conversation about Aging Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fighting Alzheimer's: How to Keep Your Brain Healthy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Right Place, Right Time: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Home for the Second Half of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReclaiming Illness and Death as Natural Parts of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGuide to Judson Brewer's The Craving Mind by Instaread Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?: The Path of Purposeful Aging Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Never Stop Dancing: Thirty More True Things You Need to Know Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Normal: A Roadmap to Resilience in the Pandemic Era Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Empty Your Backpack: Unpack Your Beliefs, Take Consistent Action, and Create a Life of Meaning Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHappiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Creating Boundaries with your Adult Children: How to Love, Trust, and Find Peace Together Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Sean Alexander's Sober On A Drunk Planet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevitalizing Retirement: Reshaping Your Identity, Relationships, and Purpose Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOur Better Angels: Seven Simple Virtues That Will Change Your Life and the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Book of Animal Secrets: Nature's Lessons for a Long and Happy Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/512 Tiny Things: Simple Ways to Live a More Intentional Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of John E. Sarno's The Mindbody Prescription Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hello Sleep: The Science and Art of Overcoming Insomnia Without Medications Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fishing!: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Self-Improvement For You
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You’re Not the Only One F*cking Up: Breaking the Endless Cycle of Dating Mistakes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Let’s Hang Out: Making (and Keeping) Friends, Acquaintances, and Other Nonromantic Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mountain is You: Transforming Self-Sabotage Into Self-Mastery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How To Win Friends And Influence People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries: When To Say Yes, How to Say No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Highly Sensitive Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Seduction: An Indispensible Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Practicing the Power of Now Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Grief Observed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Eightysomethings
11 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As a 77 year old, I got this book as soon as I became aware of it, looking for guidance as I move into the last phase of life. I did find it interesting, but less so than I had hoped. The most important thing I learned was that most people in their 80's are actually happy, many happier than they have ever been, despite many challenges. The book is based on interviews with 100+ people in the 80's, and the author herself is in that age group, which creates an interesting perspective. She has some information on the traits of people who seem happy in their eighties, and some guidance on how to get that way. A good read if not a great one.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5No one really wants to think about aging into the 80s. Many of us are in denial. "I'm not old." Psychotherapist, Katherine Esty, brings the issues to the forefront. When she tried to find a book dedicated to this age group, she found nothing. She decided to write a book by interviewing 128 people over 80 and 26 adult children of aging parents. She notes: "Old age is not for sissies... it requires the ability to handle and accept one by one, the losses that are encountered."
The book is a wealth of information on how to cope with growing old. The author talks about the shrinking world with bodies, smaller homes, traveling less, and making their lives more simple. Besides giving the reader a glimpse of what others have endured, she is a list maker for all kinds of groups including what really matters the most: the importance of family, passion, serving others, living in the present and relationships. She ends the book with reference materials and books. She says, "Do what you enjoy...live your life from the heart rather than from the head."
This is book I'd like for myself, my sisters, my friends and I will recommend it to everyone. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this copy.