It Takes a Village

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Hello friends! Welcome to Notes from the Road, where we crack the code on your 50s and beyond. In this issue:

• Why villages are great for older people.

• Book review: how to reclaim your time, attention, and purpose.

• The pros and cons of retiring abroad, from people who are doing it.

• Pre-retirement planning toolkit.

• Navigating midlife malaise.

• Slow travel tips.

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They say it takes a village to raise a child. But lately I’ve begun to realize that it takes a village to help an older person thrive too.

We’re house hunting. We’ve been at it for a few months. We’re looking in an area a few hours from where we currently live. That’s complicated our search. Houses are often under contract by the time we arrive to see them.

Since we’re pretty used to traveling, we rented an apartment for six weeks to be closer to the action. Now we can see houses quickly. And as a bonus, get a vibe check of the area and try on “real life” at a more leisurely pace.

We had a choice of apartments: rural, suburban, or in the center of a small town. We chose the small town because it was convenient to grocery shopping and a nice new gym, where we could get temporary memberships. We also wanted to meet some locals, which we thought would be easier in town.

It’s been a revelation. Maybe it’s because we’ve got a front porch here, but village life has reconnected us to so many things we’ve lost sight of over the years.

What is it about a village, now?

It’s about community, which is right outside the front door, rather than a car ride away. It’s about beauty, living on human-scale streets with old houses where every single one is unique. It’s about history, living in a place of many generations, and feeling connected to all that came before you. It’s about spirituality, making it easier to attend and join places of worship. It’s about health, with walkable neighborhoods and nearby stores and restaurants that practically call you to get up and get out and get moving.

In other words, it’s a great place to be in the later part of life, when connection and physical wellness is critical to your healthspan.

Unfortunately, it’s also about money, and we’re still working out whether we can afford to settle here. But whether it’s this village or another, we’ve learned some important things. I thought you might want to know, in case you’re thinking about a move too.

Bite Sized Book Review

Luckily, there’s a book for that too. In Please Unsubscribe, Thanks! How to Take Back Our Time, Attention, and Purpose in a Relentless World, Julio Vincent Gambuto covers more than a simple digital detox. Gambuto dissects all the ways in which we create conscious and unconscious obligations for ourselves. He then describes how to remove ourselves from those, if we choose.

The book doesn’t stop there. Helpfully, the remaining chapters focus on the emotional impact of “The Great Unsubscribe:” feeling unsettled, bored, lost, and the rest of it. Gambuto describes his own experience with that, and provides encouragement and practical advice for getting to the other side. You don’t see that much in books like this.

A unique point of view with practical and heartfelt advice for making a big change.

The Weekly Roundup

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