HeyJaredWe're All Getting Older
Conversations about ideas we encounter through books and films, and where they lead us.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 13
- Latest publication
- Sep 27, 2026
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 5, 2026
Latest issues
What Stayed With Me #3 (opens the original)
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Dear friends,Busy month. I am moving, so days are filled with packing (an activity that’s on the list of Top Things I Hate Doing) and unpacking (also on the same list). It’s also my birthday month. So there’s that too. I usually love celebrating birthdays but this month, there simply wasn’t enough time. The merriment will have to be postponed to October.The one thing about packing that I DO like is the chance it gives me to review what I have and what I want to keep. Things, otherwise, tend to s
The Mondays We’ve Got Left (You Only Die Once) (opens the original)
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I’ve been revisiting some older pieces to see which still feel at home in Shaping Life. I first published this one a couple of years ago, inspired by an idea I encountered in Jodi Wellman’s book You Only Die Once and her TEDx talk. It’s an idea I still think about, so this felt like one worth bringing back. I’ve made a few small edits, but otherwise left it much as it was.Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “Life, if well-lived, is long enough.”Two things come to mind immediately.One: What is a
Why Jean never left the hotel (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) (opens the original)
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“Why don’t you ever go out?”, asks Graham Dashwood in the 2011 John Madden film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.He asks this of Jean Ainslee, who along with her husband and other British retirees, moved to Jaipur, India, lured by the promise of an affordable but luxurious retirement at the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. But what they found when they arrived isn’t quite what the brochure promised. The hotel is dilapidated, renovations unfinished. The phones don’t work. Some doors are missing, and
Am I well-read if I haven’t read the right books? (opens the original)
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I read a lot.Reading is one of the organizing activities of my life. There is almost always a book beside me, my Kindle never far away. My To-Be-Read list is so ambitious, the phrase “so many books, so little time” comes to mind.But a recent experience showed me how oh so easy it apparently is to make me feel insecure as a reader… to make me question whether I’m even good enough. (Don’t worry, I too hear how ridiculous that question is.)<a class="image-link image2 is-viewab
What Stayed With Me #2 (opens the original)
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Dear friends,I’m ending this month kicking and screaming. August went by way too fast for me; feels like I’m missing a few days! It definitely didn’t feel like the dog days of summer, lemme tell ya. I was too busy — and not with fun, summery stuff either. Chores! Long to-do lists! Ugh. But through it all, I managed to read a few books and see some films I enjoyed quite a bit. Here’s what stayed with me. Hope you’re having a fun-tastic summer. Talk soon,LouWhat Stayed With Me is a monthly note f
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