13 million minutes.

Introducing The Juvenile Geriatric

“It’s never too late to try again” Alizé Cornet (tennis player on reaching her first grand slam quarter final)

“I haven’t resigned myself yet.” Lew Hollander (93 year old ironman)

Your favourite quote/saying/aphorism here: _____________

Hello Friends,

Thirteen million minutes is roughly twenty-five years. Does it sound like a lot? It doesn’t to me. I came up with the idea of The Juvenile Geriatric, after an ‘alarm’ sounded one night after the death of my beloved Mum.

Having watched my parents age over the last decade (Hi Dad xxx), and realising that, I too, am getting older, I wanted to start a conversation about how we navigate this transition to older life. I worry about a lack of compassion towards older people. I worry that we silo them once they are deemed ‘post-productive’ and sometimes we abandon them. And I worry that older peopler are increasingly devalued in the workplace. Which is crazy when they contribute bucketloads.

In the past few years I’ve had dealings with MyAgedCare, aged-care homes, doctors, geriatricians, ageing researchers, physiotherapists and lots of older Australians. I have tons of questions and I’ve found a handful of answers so far. I want to share what I’ve learned in The Juvenile Geriatric which I’m launching today.

As a proud ‘Slashie’ (someone with multiple descriptors in their job-description, otherwise known as a portfolio career) I’ll post about ageing, conversations, family stories, food and travel as well as updates about my theatre show Lost in Shanghai.

I look forward to hearing from you, whether it’s your own experiences, recommendations or subjects you want me to explore. In the meantime, you may be interested in my latest piece for Guardian Australia which has just been published.

And if you didn’t catch the first part of The Guardian series, here you go.

Thank-you so much for reading.

Yours truly, Jane.