You'll Never Finish Your To-Do List

Plus: Getting a Mortgage in Retirement, When Exercise Creates Stress, and Age and Alcohol

Author

Notes from the Road
January 21, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

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

  • You will never finish your to do list!

  • Can you get a mortgage in retirement? Should you?

  • When exercise can actually create stress.

  • Why age and alcohol don’t mix.

  • Using slow travel to escape groundhog day.

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You’ll Never Finish Your To-Do List! A Review of Meditations for Mortals 

This is a book about how the world opens up once you realize you’re never going to sort your life out. It’s about how marvelously productive you become when you give up the grim-faced quest to make yourself more and more productive; and how much easier it gets to do bold and important things once you accept that you’ll never get around to more than a handful of them (and that, strictly speaking, you don’t absolutely need to do any of them at all).

Oliver Burkeman, Introduction, Meditations for Mortals
Book Cover: Meditations for Mortals

In my younger days, there was no To Do list that I couldn’t tackle. Early to bed and early to rise and checking all those boxes off. Such an adrenaline rush! The more impossible the list, the more exciting it was. I. Was. Going. To. Crush. It.

But now? I’m just stressed out by the siren song of the productivity industrial complex. I can’t seem to rise to the occasion the way I once did. And I don’t know that I’m even interested. But that’s a little…unsettling?

I was incredibly relieved when I ran across Meditations for Mortals. This is one of those books that finds you a) laughing out loud as you recognize yourself in the scenarios the author describes and b) nodding and saying YES roughly every 90 seconds in agreement. It is infinitely relatable, and speaks truths we don’t dare to utter.

The main message? Your time and energy are finite. You’ll never do all of everything. Just do stuff. Embrace imperfection. Enjoy the ride. (In other words, messages that we need to hear at this age, when it finally dawns on us that our existence is not infinite). By this point, the brain may be willing but the body may not follow. (Though I confesss there’s still a teensy bit of my brain that wants to spend a morning watching Ali Abdaal videos).

Oliver Burkeman, the author, is not just giving us the same old blah blah. He had this epiphany as a writer for the Guardian, faced with insane deadlines and expectations. Soon, he felt the creeping realization that constantly trying to nail one’s life down is a fools errand. He actually wrote the book for himself.

Once you’re on board philosophically, Burkeman provides you with a practical way to start shifting your thinking more permanently. The book is designed as a “four week retreat of the mind” so that you can read a (short) chapter a day. You’ll come to terms with all the ways in which your time is finite. You’ll learn how to take action without being attached to outcomes. You’ll learn how to let go. And you’ll appreciate the value of being present and in the moment.

There are too many wonderful quotes to include here. Just read it.

Remember the days of paper lists and mall marathons?

Now it's Amazon Prime time. While free shipping and exclusive shows are a given, these 10 hidden perks can enhance your membership in unexpected ways.

The Weekly Roundup

Worth your time to watch, read, and listen.

Can You Get a Mortgage In Retirement? And Should You?

The short answers: yes, and…maybe? You can qualify for one, but you’ll need to do some careful planning if you’re near or in retirement. And think carefully about those expenses.

How Midlife Women Can Avoid Exercise-Induced Stress

How much is too much at this age? Exercise-induced stress can tip the scales, literally, in the wrong direction. Here are some ways to keep it at a good level.

Why Age and Alcohol Don't Mix

Why your body doesn’t tolerate alcohol as well as it used to. A good motivation to get you through dry January, if you’re doing that this month.

Stuck in Your Personal Groundhog Day? Use Slow Travel to Break Out

This period after the holidays is often hard for us. The beauty of autumn, the joy of Thanksgiving, the magic and mystery of Christmas are all behind us. As usual, we choose to escape this by traveling. 😂 Here’s how we did it last year.

❝

Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.

Marcus Aurelius

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