How To Move On from Self-Pity

It's been a tough week. I know I can share these things with you but coming back up to the surface for air was hard. BUT, I found a poem that perfectly captures the journey of aging – learning to shed what's no longer relevant while moving forward without forgetting our past.

As I get closer to my 7th decade, I've been reflecting on how important it is to focus on the future rather than dwelling on what's been lost. To that end, I'm turning a page in this podcast about getting older.

You've heard my stories, now I want to hear yours.

Please write to me at BillMonty04@gmail.com to share your story. You've heard mine for 40 episodes, now I want to hear yours - your challenges, your wisdom, your experiences. This is your opportunity to tell your story and perhaps leave a legacy.

Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Poem on Aging
• 2:09 Reflections on Letting Go
• 5:03 New Direction for the Podcast
• 8:01 Invitation for Listener Stories
• 10:14 How the Conversations Will Work
• 12:09 Theme Song and Closing

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Gettin' Older. The mirror speaks in softened tones, a stranger's eyes, yet still my own. The skin remembers sunlit days, but time has etched a winding maze. The sneakers of my restless youth are tucked beside forgotten truths, the wild dreams, the midnight calls, the friends who danced through golden falls. I do not mourn what slips away. The tide was never meant to stay. Instead, I walk a gentler shore with quieter steps, but I'm seen more New. Laughter finds me in the light, a deeper joy, a calmer flight. The spark that once burned, fast and free, now glows with thoughtful constancy. I trade the race for steady pace, the needing less, a giving grace. New values rise like a morning sun, a heart that's learned, a soul that has won. So let the past drift with the sea. It built the bones that carry me. And though the years may paint me old, they make the newer stories bold. You see, the beauty is not holding tight, but learning how to love the night, to welcome dawn with wiser eyes and greet the world with no disguise. I choose to greet the world with no disguise. I choose to greet the world with no disguise. Welcome, my friends, to Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older. I am your host, bill Monty.

Speaker 1: 2:19

I found that poem and it spoke to me, and it verbalized for me some of the things that go through my head how, as we age, it is so important to learn how to shed the parts of our life that are no longer relevant, Not to forget them, though, to place them in a special place in your heart, in your memories, and then to move forward, because, as you try to move forward, but you're holding on to a past that halts your journey, and there's still so much more to learn. No matter your age, this summer I will turn well, I'll be in my late 60s, which is astounding to me, and the last few days, I'm going to tell you a truth, my friends I've been feeling sorry for myself that I no longer can run like I once did, or even move like I once did. That words come slower. All those times that I was younger, I wish I had paid more attention to the moments, to the people, to the emotions, to the feelings. It was all going so fast and I thought it would last forever, and I suppose for everyone. There is a time in your life when you realize it isn't going to.

Speaker 1: 4:07

My melancholy mood has passed, no-transcript. It's not that the past is gone, it's that the future is ahead of me, and that's what I choose to concentrate on now To continue to find ways to move forward to wherever my next journey is, and I think that journey, for this particular podcast and endeavor, will look different in the near future. So here's what I'm thinking and here, my friends, is where I need your help. If you've been with me since I started this back when I was railing against Social Security by the way, my next episode I will again be railing against Social Security, so stick around for that one. The stuff I find out about it just really annoys me. But if you've been around since the beginning, or if you're someone who's just jumped on the last few episodes, if you're someone who just hops on when the subject of the title seems to interest you, that's great, thank you. Thank you. You've been there, you've been supporting me. I know not every single episode is for everybody. I do not have the hubris that allows me to believe that every single thing I say is golden. I'm glad that any of you have been kind enough to listen and for those of you that have written to me and expressed how much you've enjoyed the shows or expressed a kinship for what I'm saying. That's wonderful. I really, if I haven't mentioned it lately, thank you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 5:51

I'm going to ask something of you now. I'm going to ask you to become a part of the show. For 40 episodes now two seasons I have been telling the story of Bill Monty and the journey of life and how I see it and how it has laid out for me. In certain ways, my hope has always been that you connect with some of that, if not all of it, but I think now it's time to hear your stories. I think now it's time for you to talk about what life has been teaching you. So I put this out to you, my friends, and I'm going to start by saying this the email is Bill Monty. That's M-O-N-T-Y. Bill Monty 04 at gmailcom.

Speaker 1: 6:46

I'm going to start putting together some things that will make it easier to do this, but I want to start right here. If you hear this and you're interested in learning more, please write to me. What I'd like to do is start talking with you. I want to hear what you have to say. What was your life like? What are the things that you have learned along the way. What are the challenges that you had? How did you overcome them? Are you still overcoming them?

Speaker 1: 7:18

And it doesn't have to be personal to the point of where you reveal some secret that will hurt someone else in your family. I don't want that at all. I want your story, I want your feelings. Feel free to change the name, even your name, if you want to. It doesn't matter to me. The story is what's important. I want to talk to you and I want to have you talk to me, and if other people come in and listen, that's great. But this is a conversation between you and me, just like it's always been. It's always been you and me, and you've made me feel so grateful by listening, and now I'd like to hear what you have to say.

Speaker 1: 8:01

So, my friends, please write to me at BillMonte04 at gmailcom. If the poem that I read speaks to you as it did to me. I'd like to hear how you're adapting to shedding the skin of the person you were and how you're learning to walk in the skin of the person you were, and how you're learning to walk in the skin of the person you are that you will be in the near future. I want to know what are your loves and what are your fears. I want to know what was the most important thing that happened to you in your life and what, perhaps, was the most disappointing. I want to know even what your favorite meal is, what's your favorite food, what's your favorite movie and why. There's so much to say, and I'm hoping that the next chapter of this podcast, bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older will be where we can have a conversation.

Speaker 1: 9:07

It's not going to be long and you don't need to do much to be able to do this. It's really easy. You contact me, I'll set up a Zoom meeting, I'll send you the link and we'll just chat. We'll have a conversation and we'll just chat. We'll have a conversation, and when I say Zoom, it's still going to be an audio podcast. I can take the audio out of a Zoom virtual meeting and turn it into an audio podcast, so your face won't be revealed. You don't have to worry about that.

Speaker 1: 9:41

I hope you'll join me. I think it's exciting. I can't wait. I can't wait for you to do this. I can't wait for you to tell your story. You know, going back several episodes, we talked about legacy and immortality. This is your opportunity to be immortal. This is your opportunity to tell your story. What are the chances that you're ever going to write a book to be able to tell it? I hope you join me on this journey. I'm so excited thinking about it, journey, I'm so excited thinking about it. Billmonte04 at gmailcom.

Speaker 1: 10:30

And please remember, as always, to hit that follow or subscribe button as you listen to this episode, to hit like and to comment. But if you don't do any of that at all, that's okay. If all you do is write to me at BillMonte04 at gmailcom and say hi, bill, my name is Tom and I'd like to talk to you. I'm a little nervous, though, because I've never done anything like this before. That's okay, tom, I'll set it up so we can have a chat before. It's not like we're going to just do this and you'll just start talking and I'm recording and who knows what will happen? We'll chat before. If you're not comfortable with it, then we won't do it. It's as simple as that. We'll just have a conversation. You've heard my story. Now let's hear yours.

Speaker 1: 11:27

On Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older. Please write to me at BillMonty04 at gmailcom. And until the next time we talk and next time we talk we'll be about Social Security, and then episode after that, I hope we'll be about social security, and then episode after that, I hope we'll be talking about you, my friend. I'm so looking forward to it. As always, I ask you to please be safe and be kind and stick around to listen to my theme song, because I really like my theme song. Until the next time, my friends, if it's warm outside but you're feeling cold, you're not sure what to do. Without a friendly shoulder, you're not alone, so start feeling bolder. Welcome to Bill Monty's Guide for Getting Older.