Unlock Positive Aging with Outdoor Adventure – Caroline Paul

The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

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Today’s Building Blocks: Fun and Wellness

Spring is right around the corner and it’s a great time to explore new outdoor activities and re-energize your routines by trying something new. Caroline Paul’s newest book, Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives As We Age, delves into the science and psychology of the outdoors – and our place in it as we age with real-life stories of women living it today.

Caroline Paul joins us from San Francisco.

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Bio

Caroline Paul has always filled her life with adventure. Now 60, she expects this new stage of life to be every bit as invigorating and full of high adrenalin escapades as the last. But as she skateboards, paddles a SUP, or surfs in cold winter swell alongside many men her age, she sees fewer and fewer older women. Isn’t the outdoors a vital elixir? Shouldn’t adventure be something we pursue as we age?

Caroline grew up in Connecticut, graduated from Stanford University and originally planned to be a documentary filmmaker. In her adult life, Caroline has been an extremely active athlete: she’s not only been a white-water raft guide and a private pilot, but also has competed in the U.S. Nationals for the sport of Luge, mountain-biked in such places as China and Vietnam, flown her para-glider in Brazil, sea-kayaked in Alaska, and skied the back country of Denali and the Sierras. One of the first women to join the San Francisco Fire Department, Caroline wrote the book, “Fighting Fire“, about her experiences as a firefighter; this book was published, to great acclaim, in 1998.

Caroline is also the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure” and “Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology“, which has been translated into fifteen languages, the middle-grade book “You Are Mighty: A Guide to Changing the World“, and the novel “East Wind, Rain”. Her TED Talk, “To Raise Brave Girls, Encourage Adventure,” has been viewed over 2 million times. A longtime member of the Writers Grotto, she lives in San Francisco.

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For More on Caroline Paul

Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking — How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives As We Age

carolinepaul.com

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

The Joy of Movement – Kelly McGonigal

The Mindful Body – Ellen Langer

Growing Old, Staying Rad – Steven Kotler

The Power of Fun – Catherine Price

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Mentioned in This Episode

https://www.retirementwisdom.com/podcasts/breaking-the-age-code-dr-becca-levy/

Caroline Paul on The Tim Ferris Show (2016)

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Wise Quotes

On Outdoor Adventure

“Everything about outdoor adventure hits all the pillars that we need for fulfilling aging and – all in one fell swoop. So I realized during the research of this book that we need to have community as we age. We need to have purpose as we age. We need to have novelty. And of course there’s health. And then the final one, which is lesser known, is the positive mindset about our own aging. And if you go outside you actually in one fell swoop hit all of those.”

On Awe

“There was adrenaline, but that wasn’t the actual experience. And what I found was that what I was experiencing was awe. And by the time I handed in my book in there had been other books about it, but I did not know much about it at all when I was writing it. And I realized that awe is what you experience in the face of something bigger than you. And it’s mostly considered a religious word most of the time, but we’re bringing it more into our vocabulary. But all is something obviously that the outdoors often inspires and turns out it’s really good for you. They’ve shown that. They did a study in San Francisco where they asked people, older people 60 to 80 to take walks. But during those walks to look at everything with what they called childlike wonder. They call those awe walks. And then they sent out another control group. Those people just walk like we normally walk, which is thinking about our to-do lists and worrying about things and looking at our phone. And they found that the people who were on the awe walks looking around them with childlike wonder just changed markedly physiologically. Their immune systems were bolstered, their anxiety went down, they did tests to show they felt more compassion. They felt physically better. And there were all these metrics that people you can look into that are astonishing. And so it turns out that awe is really good for us and we should be seeking it more. And so of course, you don’t have to wing walk. Walking makes awe easier. It just happens. It blows your brain, but you can go outside and just practice awe by looking at things with that deep attention and wonderment.”

On Novelty

“I wanted to look into people learning something new at a later age. As we get to a certain age, we stop trying new things, partly because we know what we like, and there’s good in that. But in fact, novelty is really important for our brain as we age to stave off all the cognitive decline that we’re so worried about as well as for our emotional well-being, of course, and giving our lives purpose and spark. And so I thought, well, I think I’m going to go learn to fly a gyrocopter.”

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About Retirement Wisdom

I help people who are retiring, but aren’t quite done yet, discover what’s next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn’t just happen by accident. Schedule a call to discuss how The Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one – on your own terms.

About Your Podcast Host

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.2 million downloads. Business Insider has recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

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The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.