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Chapter 5 of 10

The later years

what the days look like now — what's quieter, what's still loud.

  1. № 01

    What's quieter in your life now that used to make a lot of noise?

  2. № 02

    What's the story about yourself you find yourself telling more than any other?

  3. № 03

    What's an ordinary day in your life like now?

  4. № 04

    What's improved with age, despite everything you were told to fear?

  5. № 05

    What's worsened, honestly — and how have you arranged your life around it?

  6. № 06

    Tell me about a friendship that's still standing after thirty, forty, fifty years.

  7. № 07

    What do you do with mornings, now?

  8. № 08

    Tell me about a place you've come back to many times across your life.

  9. № 09

    What does retirement (or stepping back, or shifting gear) actually feel like, from the inside?

  10. № 10

    If you've lost a partner — or you've lived alone for a long stretch — what does the shape of a day on your own feel like now?

  11. № 11

    What do you do with the people who are no longer here?

  12. № 12

    Tell me about a piece of music that means more to you now than it did when you first heard it.

  13. № 13

    What's the thing you're most curious about, still?

  14. № 14

    Has your relationship with your body settled into something different in the later years?

  15. № 15

    Tell me about something a grandchild — yours or someone else's — has taught you.

  16. № 16

    Is there a regret you've come to peace with?

  17. № 17

    Is there a regret you haven't made peace with — and don't have to today?

  18. № 18

    What's the best meal you've had in the last year?

  19. № 19

    Is there a place you'd still like to see, even if you'll need help getting there?

  20. № 20

    Have you developed a habit in the last decade that surprises you?

  21. № 21

    Tell me about a younger person who's been good to you in your later years.

  22. № 22

    What's a possession you'd like to make sure ends up with a particular person?

  23. № 23

    Is there an apology you'd still like to make, or receive?

  24. № 24

    Tell me about a moment of unexpected joy in the last year.

  25. № 25

    Is there a phase of your life you'd happily live again — knowing what you know now?

  26. № 26

    What's a habit, attitude, or worry you're glad to have outgrown?

  27. № 27

    What does death look like to you now, compared with what it looked like when you were forty?

  28. № 28

    Is there a question that, twenty years ago, you thought you'd have figured out by now — and you haven't?