Episode 10: 2025 Highlights
Don't Let The Old Man In: 2025 Highlights
AIRED: 16/12/2025
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Introduction
This isn’t your typical podcast episode. Instead of one conversation, Pod O’Sullivan brings you 13 pivotal moments from the most powerful interviews of 2025. These are the insights that stopped him in his tracks, the conversations that made him think, “everyone needs to hear this.”
If you’re navigating midlife and wondering what comes next, this episode is for you. We live in a culture obsessed with the first half of life: the climb, the hustle, building your career, raising kids, paying off the mortgage. But what happens when you’ve ticked all those boxes and find yourself asking, “now what?” Or worse, what happens when life doesn’t go to plan?
This collection of highlights addresses the questions many of us avoid: How do we extend our health span, not just our lifespan? How do we have difficult conversations about death? How do we navigate shame, vulnerability, and imposter feelings? How do we find purpose after crisis and thrive instead of merely surviving?
What we discuss in this episode
Dr Gordon Spence on health span vs lifespan
- The cruel gap between how long we’re living and how well we’re living
- Why physical decline doesn’t fall off a cliff until 70 (if you’ve been doing the work)
- How negative age stereotypes undermine our actual physical capacity
- Training for your last decade starts now, not at 65
Dr Merran Cooper on having conversations about death
- How a 21-year-old woman faced her husband’s terminal diagnosis
- The chaplain who gave permission to prepare for death while maintaining hope
- Why every single older person is thinking about death and waiting for someone to talk about it
- The power of advanced care planning for your loved ones
Ben Larke on shame and vulnerability
- Understanding the difference between shame and guilt
- How shame keeps us stuck and prevents growth
- Why vulnerability is the pathway through shame
- Practical tools for recognising and addressing shame in our lives
Erin Buttermore on imposter phenomenon
- Why high achievers often feel like frauds
- The difference between imposter syndrome and imposter phenomenon
- How imposter feelings can actually signal growth opportunities
- Reframing self-doubt as evidence you’re stretching yourself
Virginia Cha on Singapore’s Distinguished Fellow Program
- How Singapore leverages experience from their aging workforce
- Redefining contribution in the second half of life
- The value of wisdom and experience in a youth-obsessed culture
- Alternative models for aging and work
- The distinction between existing and truly living
- Building resilience through intentional choices
- Creating a life of vitality beyond your working years
- Small daily practices that compound into transformation
Stuart O’Neill on personal reinvention
- Why men struggle to talk about mental health
- The importance of connection and community
- Breaking through isolation in midlife
- Practical steps for building meaningful relationships
- Navigating major life transitions in your 40s and 50s
- The courage to start again
- Redefining success on your own terms
- Finding freedom in uncertainty
Dr Angela Kwong on preventative health for men over 40
- Why your metabolism changes and what to do about it
- The essential health checks every man should get (but most don’t)
- Waist circumference matters more than your weight
- Testing fasting insulin levels before diabetes develops
Michael Bungay Stanier on relationships
- The secret to a good marriage: both thinking they got the better deal
- Maintaining connection through life’s transitions
- Why relationships require intentional effort
- Creating mutual value and appreciation
The bigger picture
These conversations all circle around one essential truth: midlife isn’t about managing decline. It’s about being intentional. It’s about having the conversations you’ve been avoiding, understanding your body and mind in deeper ways, and refusing to sleepwalk through these years.
Yes, some of this is uncomfortable. Talking about death, confronting shame, admitting we feel like imposters sometimes. But discomfort is where growth happens. The alternative, drifting through these years and hoping it’ll work out, is far more dangerous.
Time is moving whether we’re paying attention or not. Our bodies are changing, our parents are aging, our kids are leaving home, our careers are evolving. We get to choose: do we drift through this or do we lean in?
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