77

YouTube can lead us down unexpected avenues. Sometimes there are tailored algorithms at play that determine which channel suggestions will appear in our right-hand columns. Frequently, this is our route to previously unexplored sites.

This is how I happened to come across a 77 year old American fellow called Robert. Over at his channel called "Robert's Active Retirement"  there are currently 82 videos that mostly address issues around retirement and old age.

This is a pretty short video that Robert posted three days ago...

As you can see, Robert has a friendly, folksy style. He is not a medical person or a trained counsellor. His thoughts and bits of advice are very much based on lived experience. He's not trying to ram ideas down our necks - he is just telling us how he sees things in a pleasant, genial manner

In years gone by,  I would never have imagined myself displaying the slightest interest in videos about old age and retirement but we all move on. To every time there is a season. 

Aging can be a pretty lonesome and fretful phase so it's quite nice to have someone like Robert confirming that we are in fact not alone. The worries and doubts older people might be going through will not be entirely unique. Somebody else has been there before.

And as for being 77 - I am just over five years short of that line - a little way behind Robert... assuming I make it of course. Limited time to realise a few more dreams, walk some more paths, weave more golden threads into the tapestry of my life before I exit this stage.