I went to MEA in Santa Fe to embrace change, lean into truth, and take a long, honest look at what still runs me and what I’m finally ready to

September 6, 2025

We live in a world where “ruin” is everywhere—lost jobs, trampled reputations, broken hearts, shrinking bank accounts, gray hairs arriving uninvited. But here’s the kicker: none of those things touch

September 5, 2025

When Lizzy Gilbert experienced her first MEA workshop a year ago, she told me, “Chippy, you need to bring my soul brother Rob Bell to lead a workshop.” To be

September 4, 2025

While it never won any Oscars, the film “The Intern” reminded us that experience never gets old. Robert DeNiro plays a 70-year-old retiree who wants to spice his life up

September 3, 2025

When I was a kid, I wrote movie reviews of everything from “The Wizard of Oz” to “The Exorcist.” While I had a few sports heroes as did my friends,

September 2, 2025

At the Modern Elder Academy, we learn that transformation rarely comes in a tidy package. More often, it arrives in the form of the messy middle—that liminal space where the

September 1, 2025

Last year, while celebrating both Thanksgiving and my 40th birthday, I had what I now call a quiet collapse. It wasn’t dramatic. No headlines, no breakdowns. Just a moment —

August 31, 2025

The raggedness of this post reflects the raggedness of mind that comes with acute grief. The piece below is written from a few fragments of my journal during this time.

August 30, 2025

Driven by rising retirement costs (11 million older households—up from 8.8 million in 2011—spend at least 30% of their income on housing), shared housing is a smart way for older

August 28, 2025

Her wild run of creativity in her 40s included writing her masterpiece on the terrors and triumphs of middle age. In the September issue of The Atlantic, you’ll find an

August 27, 2025

In my 20s and 30s, I had abs you could bounce a quarter off and the metabolism of a hummingbird on espresso. But did I walk around like the Greek

August 26, 2025

MEA guest faculty member Karen Walrond reminds us that the French-Latin word amateur means “one who loves.” Who knew?!  I was fortunate enough to read an early copy of Karen’s

August 25, 2025