Great piece. At 79, I feel every part of what you’re describing. There’s a moment later in life when the performance finally gets heavy, and the real you starts knocking. What I like here is the reminder that your digital life can either keep you stuck in an old identity or quietly make space for who you’ve actually become.
The idea of unfollowing what no longer fits — that’s simple and powerful. Same with rewriting a profile so it reflects the person you are now, not the one you were at 45. Most people never think to do that, and it shows.
And you’re right about the balance: be yourself, but be smart. Share the parts that help you connect, not the parts that hand strangers a blueprint.
The bigger message lands: you’ve earned the right to live in alignment, online and off.
It’s sometimes harder to change than it was when we were younger. Thinking about who we really are and what we really want can be very revealing to ourselves, and possibly very surprising to others.
Paul, I think there’s real audience overlap between our readers, and I wondered if you’d be open to a potential collaboration, maybe a recommendation swap to start, and we could explore other ideas from there. No pressure either way, just wanted to reach out because I really enjoy your work.
Great piece. At 79, I feel every part of what you’re describing. There’s a moment later in life when the performance finally gets heavy, and the real you starts knocking. What I like here is the reminder that your digital life can either keep you stuck in an old identity or quietly make space for who you’ve actually become.
The idea of unfollowing what no longer fits — that’s simple and powerful. Same with rewriting a profile so it reflects the person you are now, not the one you were at 45. Most people never think to do that, and it shows.
And you’re right about the balance: be yourself, but be smart. Share the parts that help you connect, not the parts that hand strangers a blueprint.
The bigger message lands: you’ve earned the right to live in alignment, online and off.
It’s sometimes harder to change than it was when we were younger. Thinking about who we really are and what we really want can be very revealing to ourselves, and possibly very surprising to others.
And sometimes a bit scary too.
I changed “scary” to “surprising” … 😉
Paul, I think there’s real audience overlap between our readers, and I wondered if you’d be open to a potential collaboration, maybe a recommendation swap to start, and we could explore other ideas from there. No pressure either way, just wanted to reach out because I really enjoy your work.
Let me think about putting out an article on pickleball.
That would be great!