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The Longevity Secret Nobody Can Sell You with Gerontologist Dr. Kerry Burnight

A Bit of Optimism

My career is an accident. It started when I set out to rediscover my passion and reignite a spark I’d lost — and that journey led me to the work I do now.

If you know me from my books or my speaking, you know I’m fascinated by why people do what they do. What makes someone find joy and meaning in their life, or pursue something far greater than themselves?

I started A Bit of Optimism to explore those ideas and expand my own perspective. This podcast is a trove of honest conversations, with people who challenge me, teach me, or simply help me see things in a different way. Some guests are household names, and others you may be meeting for the first time. But each one of them has something to share that can help all of us grow.

So if you’re looking for a spark — some insight, inspiration, or just a reminder that good things are possible — join me on A Bit of Optimism!

Let’s grow together.

If you’ve ever dabbled in looking into how to extend your life, your social media feed might be inundated with the “hottest” longevity trends: from cold plunges to VO2 max tests to celebrity-endorsed supplements. As a society, we are obsessed with the idea of living longer. 

And longevity has become a multi-billion dollar industry where everyone’s trying to sell you their secret to a longer life. But if you meet the people leading that movement, you start to ask yourself “are they even happy?” If we’re all trying to live all these extra years, we should also make sure we genuinely enjoy them. 

That’s why I wanted to talk to Dr. Kerry Burnight about how we age. Known as “America’s Gerontologist”, she specializes in the mental, physical, and social aspects of aging. Kerry has spent two decades as a professor of geratric medicine, and co-founded the nation’s first elder abuse forensic center, where she saw older people isolated, exploited, and suffering. After years of arriving after the damage was done, she started asking a different question: what would prevent that suffering in the first place?

Kerry’s answer is a concept she calls “Joyspan,” which is also the title of her New York Times bestseller Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half. Her work reframes how we think about our long lives: not as a problem to solve by suppressing the aging process, but as a chance to grow with age and build a life with intention and joy.

In this episode you’ll learn:

➡️ Why the longevity movement lost its way (in a word: humility)

➡️ How Kerry’s mom changed her outlook on life in her late 70s, and is thriving at nearly 98

➡️ Three questions you should ask yourself every birthday 

➡️ Why we should stop “growing older” and start “growing with age”

➡️ The one sentence that helps you find something good even when things are hard

➡️ How to help someone who’s stuck, without just commiserating 

➡️ Why friendship might be “the Ozempic of longevity”

➡️ The four practices of people who are still loving life at 100

This conversation isn’t about rejecting the gym or the green vegetables – you should take care of your body too! But the parts of life that make it worth living are often difficult to assign a metric. They take work too. And it’s never too early (or too late) to start.

This… is A Bit of Optimism.

To get a copy of Kerry’s book, Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life's Second Half, head to: https://www.drkerryburnight.com/#joyspan

Chapters
Chapters

00:00:00 Dedicating Your Life to Helping Others Age
00:00:43 Beyond Lifespan and Healthspan: Introducing Joyspan
00:02:20 Why the Longevity Movement Lost Its Way
00:03:13 From Elder Abuse to Prevention: A Gerontologist's Journey
00:04:45 How the Longevity Movement Lost Its Way
00:10:40 Introducing JoySpan: The Missing Piece of Longevity
00:13:48 The Chocolate Cake Principle: When Worry Is Worse Than the Thing
00:16:59 What Funerals Teach Us About What Actually Matters
00:18:20 The AGE Framework: Three Questions to Ask Yourself Every Birthday
00:21:25 Why the Intangibles Matter More Than Metrics
00:26:42 Growing With Age, Not Growing Older
00:32:30 Pain Isn't a Mistake: Why We Need to Stop Vilifying Struggle
00:32:45 Finding the Gift in Every Hardship
00:47:20 The Third Leg of the Stool: Friendship as Longevity Medicine
00:52:30 How to Talk to Young People About Aging (And Why Quality of Life Is the Key)
00:57:08 Four Practices for a High-Quality Life at Any Age
00:57:56 Redefining What It Means to Be Old

Simon is an unshakable optimist. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together.

Described as “a visionary thinker with a rare intellect,” Simon has devoted his professional life to help advance a vision of the world that does not yet exist; a world in which the vast majority of people wake up every single morning inspired, feel safe wherever they are and end the day fulfilled by the work that they do.

Simon is the author of multiple best-selling books including Start With Why, Leaders Eat Last, Together is Better, and The Infinite Game.

Website: http://simonsinek.com/

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