31. Memento mori: Simon Sweetman’s wakeup call
Have you had a memento mori, a reminder of death, an OMG-I’m-gonna-die-one-day moment? Or perhaps a memento senesci, and OMG-I’m-gonna-be-old-one-day moment? This can happen at any age, and is just as authentic when a very young person feels it. Sometimes it prompts us to change or die.
This podcast episode is a chat with Simon Sweetman, a writer, music afficionado and podcaster who knows far too much about popular music. He talks about waking up to his own mortality, making big changes in his life to prevent an early death, and some favourite songs that are (sort of) about old age.
Simon Sweetman got a brutal wake-up call around the age of 40. After that turning point he began making a few big changes in his life, one at a time. He tells us what changed after a nurse spoke to him bluntly at a crossroads in his life.
Simon and I also talk about changes in our thinking and our approach to life, changes that happen almost inevitably in the process of growing older.
- Massive molecular shifts occur in our 40s and 60s, Stanford Medicine researchers find
- Simon Sweetman’s Substack publication
- Your wake-up birthday: when and why?
Interesting conversation. I’ve had many moments where a massive mental shift probably should have occurred but I guess they happen when they happen. Mine happened this year in my mid fifties and I’ve starting calling it The Gift
It’s never too late, I have found. No rush.
The gift! That is wonderful. And it’s true, you certainly can’t programme those big shifts. Thanks for your comment. It’s got me thinking.