Episode 18: "Trust you'll handle the tough stuff, and look forward to the good stuff."

A lot has happened since Karen Walrond published The Lightmaker’s Manifesto in 2021. For one, we’ve all aged—which is nothing new. We’ve been doing that since the day we arrived. It’s just at this point in our midlives that we seem to notice it more.

Karen’s research in her new book, Radiant Rebellion, establishes that we’ve been trained to fear getting older since our mid-20s, mostly to replenish the job market and sell hair dye. Whether you color your hair or not, Karen asks us all to think deeply about why. And more importantly, about what would happen if you didn’t.

After Karen’s home was essentially wiped out by Hurricane Harvey, she saw the opportunity to reset her life, in part by resetting her wardrobe. Style is political, and words matter. So the best way to confront the relentless advance of time is to embrace it—and reframe it with the look and the words that suit you. Because however you look, your age looks amazing on you.

We also talk about holding our tongues with our (mostly) adult children, the way to temper “toxic positivity” with practical optimism, and the majesty of

Gabrielle Blair

’s bright-red power suit.

Other links:

• Follow Karen on Instagram

• “Let’s End Ageism” TED talk by Ashton Applewhite

• Michelle Fishburne, the Happy Nomad

• What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami

• Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, by Emily and Amelia Nagoski

• Karen appears on the Leadershit podcast with Caleb Gardner and Adrielle Parker

• Asha Dornfest
  guests on Episode 6 of our podcast

• We love the long, gray locks on

  Eden (formerly Mrs.) Kennedy
  and Paulina Porizkova