The research is fairly conclusive: 100 percent of us will die—yes, even you Hot Stuff. We humans are the only animals that are keenly aware of our eventual extinction. Let’s quantify the inevitability: Globally, life expectancy reached 73.3 years in 2024, an increase of almost 8.4 years since 1995. Average life length varies widely by...

Do you ever get your knickers in a knot about the whole, “Do I give it my all” or “Do I phone it in” conundrum? If you are a perfectionist, the idea of phoning it in makes you want to breathe into a paper bag. If you are a “Good is good enough” type, giving...

Are you an immortalist? A life-extensionist? A transhumanist (don’t get your knickers in a knot—that’s just a fancy word for people who believe technology can help them live forever, or at least until technology takes over and annihilates all the humans)? People are trying to outwit mortality in ways that range from science-adjacent to Dracula with a spreadsheet:...

I had the supreme pleasure last weekend of watching one of the most depressing movies of all time—Train Dreams—it was melancholic and beautiful and devastating and heart wrenching and aren’t you just dying to watch it now? (Do watch it though; just as we love listening to sad songs, we do like tales of grief...

Getting old isn't as fun as everyone promised me it would be. Sometimes when I'm bored, like when I’m in the waiting room before a colonoscopy, I like to play a little game (in my head, don’t worry) called All the Ways My Battle Worn Body is Falling Apart with Age—starting from my head (oh,...

I'm going to tell you a real-life story, so top off your wine glass (or cold-pressed juice if that's more your style) and pull up a chair. The Husband and I were at a wine class last week (wine tasting = guaranteed date night success). The night got even better when the guy who was...

The bad news: The research seems fairly conclusive—100 percent of us will die. The good news: "Though the fact, the physicality, of death destroys us, the idea of death may save us." –Irvin Yalom How, exactly, can the idea of the Grim Reaper save us? Let's take a little road trip to a Buddhist kingdom...

Which phrase have you been guilty of uttering (and you need to be honest here, okay)? A) “Your trauma is your superpower.” B) “I’m not a racist, but… (insert something borderline racist)” C) “Talk to the hand.” D) “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” If you answered A: barf; B: uh oh—you’re totally a racist!; C:...

There is a well-studied psychology intervention called “Best Possible Self,” and as you can imagine, it’s downright dreamy. You sit down with your beverage of choice (MAKE MINE A DOUBLE), and you follow these instructions: ‘‘Think about your life in the future. Imagine that everything has gone as well as it possibly could. You have...

Look at you over there, with your tips and tricks and little life hacks, finding ways to work around the foibles and cock ups and indignities of life... finding ways to make your 4,000 Mondays on the planet more enjoyable amidst the hilarious lunacy known as Being Alive. I guess I just don't know why...

As much as I'd like to warm you up—offer you a drink, maybe a canapé (probably just some microwave popcorn), I'm just going to dive right in. Life's too short to mess around with a hefty preamble when I have a question that will reach deep into your soul and either enrich it or eviscerate...

Welcome to today's Mortality Lesson... Jurassic Park Edition.   Non-avian dinosaurs went kaput about 66 million years ago. Sorry— that's 3,443,785,714.3 Mondays ago. Dino extinction isn't news to anyone here, unless you are a child, in which case you shouldn't be reading this blog because the f-word comes up from time to time. (For example: all...