What it is: A short video. You're talking to the camera, or there's footage of you doing something, with the words layered over it.
What you get: A full script under "Words to say," already written: hook, body, and close.
What you do: Read it into your phone camera (or film the footage), then post it as a Reel.
Why do active grandparents with old pain remember the exact year it started, but never the last day without it?
You end up with an anniversary nobody sends a card for. That's the part I never hear anybody mention.
Around here people see me out and about and figure I've always been like this. They're not seeing the 25 years I've had a bad back since I hurt it at work, or that I can name the year without stopping to think.
If you came for the version where somebody snaps their fingers in a 30 second clip, I don't have one. Nothing about my 25 years moved at that speed.
You'll get the honest version from me or nothing at all. Did I stop counting on purpose somewhere in there? I did. The counting was doing me no favors.
The years turned out to be worth something, which took me a long while to admit. They taught me to ask what year somebody's started, to stay quiet while they answer, and to never act surprised at the number.
And if the year is sitting right there on the tip of your tongue, don't take that as proof you've made it your whole personality.
I promise you this much. Knowing the exact year says you were paying attention, and NOTHING else.
So say the year out loud to somebody who won't flinch at it.
You are not dramatic. You're precise π
If you'd like a quiet place to start, our free Wellness Check-In is 12 questions and about 2 minutes. No pressure from us π
You end up with an anniversary nobody sends a card for. Mine is a year I can name without thinking.
This is for anybody who knows the year and long ago stopped counting the days.
I have had a bad back for 25 years, since I hurt it at work. The year comes to me faster than my own phone number.
The 5 slides are what those years taught me about asking somebody else about theirs.
Save it. Send it to whoever has a year they never mention.
What year is yours? Knowing it says you were paying attention, and nothing else.
#theyearitstarted #onehonestquestion
Why do active grandparents with old pain remember the exact year it started, but never the last day without it?
Around here people see me out and about and figure I've always been like this. They're not seeing the 25 years I've had a bad back since I hurt it at work, or that I can name the year without stopping to think.
I promise you this much. Knowing the exact year says you were paying attention, and nothing else.
It's 5am, active grandparents, and you're awake again, doing the math on how many years it's been.
What gets posted is the daytime version of a person. Mine has had a bad back for 25 years since I hurt it at work, and that half doesn't photograph.
The part I never hear said out loud is that the math is the heavy bit. Not the day. The arithmetic.
Nothing I've been through reset the count overnight, and I'd be lying to you if I dressed it up any other way.
I'd rather be blunt than tidy, so here it is. Did I ever sit and run that math on myself? More times than I'd put in writing.
The counting years handed me things I use now, which I didn't see coming. I can hear when a number is somebody's whole story, I know better than to guess how heavy theirs is, and I've never once told anybody theirs was small.
So if you're up early running your own numbers, don't hand yourself a verdict at that hour.
Here's my promise, and it's a small one. The number doesn't make you a harder person to talk to. NOT to us.
So let the number be a number for one morning.
You haven't wasted them. You've been carrying them π
When you want a quieter place to start than another search at 5am, the free Wellness Check-In is 12 questions and about 2 minutes. We'll be here after π
I have sat and run that math on myself more times than I would put in writing.
This one is for whoever is awake early with a number in their head.
I have had a bad back for 25 years, since I hurt it at work, and the daytime version of me does not show it.
The 4 slides are what I would want somebody to read before they hand themselves a verdict at 5am.
Save it for the next early morning. Send it to whoever else is up doing sums.
How long has yours been? However long it is, it does not make you a harder person to talk to.
#doingthemath #notaverdict
It's 5am, active grandparents, and you're awake again, doing the math on how many years it's been.
What gets posted is the daytime version of a person. Mine has had a bad back for 25 years since I hurt it at work, and that half doesn't photograph.
Here's my promise, and it's a small one. The number doesn't make you a harder person to talk to.
There are 2 kinds of people with pain this old. One gets themselves back. One never does.
Whatever you're picturing, there was no single morning that sorted me into one camp or the other. It doesn't work like a door.
And the thing I never hear said out loud is that most people are in both camps before lunch.
You'd look at me now and pick a camp for me in about a second. What you wouldn't see is the 25 years of a bad back since I hurt it at work, or how little that fact tells you.
I'll give you the unvarnished bit, since polite has never helped anybody. Did I ever decide which kind I was, on a bad Tuesday, with nothing to go on? Plenty of times.
Those long years gave me something I'd never have picked up any other way. I don't sort people into kinds anymore, I don't finish anybody's sentence about their own body, and I don't assume the tired one at the back of the room has given up.
And if you've already filed yourself under the second kind, that's a mood talking and not a finding.
And I'll promise you one thing. Nobody worth your time sorts you into a camp before you've said a word. Not EVER.
So leave the sorting alone for a day.
Nobody here thinks you're finished. You're the one who kept asking π
Our free Wellness Check-In is 12 questions and about 2 minutes, if you'd rather start with something small. Either way, Steve and I aren't going anywhere π
I do not sort people into kinds anymore.
This one is for whoever has already put themselves in the wrong camp this week.
There was no single morning that sorted me either way. I have had a bad back for 25 years since I hurt it at work, and that fact tells you almost nothing about me.
The 3 slides are short on purpose. There was not much worth adding to them.
Save it. Send it to the person you would never describe as finished.
Which camp did you put yourself in today? A mood is not a finding.
#bothcampsbylunch #nosorting
There are 2 kinds of people with pain this old. One gets themselves back. One never does.
The thing I never hear said out loud is that most people are in both camps before lunch.
And if you've already filed yourself under the second kind, that's a mood talking and not a finding.
So leave the sorting alone for a day.
If you're active grandparents tired of promises, you're not the problem. The list of things you tried is.
The part nobody says out loud is that trying things is its own kind of tired.
People hear me being cheery about wellness and figure it came easy to me. I've had a bad back for 25 years, since I hurt it at work.
The internet loves a story where somebody wakes up fine one morning. This isn't one of those.
And I'll say the unflattering part, because what's the point otherwise. Did I decide somewhere in there that this was how it was going to be from now on? Yeah. For a long stretch.
25 years hands you things you didn't ask for, like how to listen to somebody mid-sentence about their worst week, how to hear a pitch coming two rooms away, and how to let a person make up their own mind.
So if you're the one holding the list, don't read it back as proof you're difficult.
And I promise you, nobody honest is keeping score of that list. NOT ONE of them.
So give yourself permission to be slow about this one.
You're not a lost cause. You're careful π
Steve and I are around. No rush from us π
Trying things is its own kind of tired. Nobody says that part out loud.
This is for anybody whose list of things they tried is longer than they would like to admit.
I've had a bad back for 25 years, since I hurt it at work. That is the whole of what I am telling you today.
The 5 slides in the carousel are what those years taught me about how people ought to be treated.
Save it. Send it to whoever has been apologising for their own list.
What is on your list? Nobody honest is counting it.
#notyourfault #takeyourtime
If you're active grandparents tired of promises, you're not the problem. The list of things you tried is.
The part nobody says out loud is that trying things is its own kind of tired. I've had a bad back for 25 years, since I hurt it at work.
So if you're the one holding the list, don't read it back as proof you're difficult.
You tried one thing. You tried the next thing. You're still half-expecting to be let down again.
Every wellness ad on your phone is selling the fast version of somebody's life. Mine wasn't fast.
And here's the part that gets skipped. After enough tries, you stop hoping on purpose. It's a protection thing.
You'd meet me at a table and get the friendly version, not the 25 years I've had a bad back since an injury at work.
I'm honest with people to a fault, so I'll say it. Did I get tired of my own story? Yep. Bone tired.
Those slow years gave me things I use every week now, like the patience to hear somebody out twice, a nose for whoever's in a hurry, and zero interest in talking anybody into anything.
If you're bracing for the let-down before you've asked a single question, that isn't pessimism. That's experience doing its job.
But I promise you, expecting to be disappointed doesn't make you difficult to be around. NEVER did.
So go ahead and ask the rude question first.
You're not cynical. You're experienced π
I'll be here either way π
I got tired of my own story. That is not a sentence I say out loud much.
This one is for the person who has stopped hoping on purpose, because hoping got expensive.
Nothing about my own stretch was fast, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
The 5 slides are the ones I would want somebody to read before they talk to anybody selling anything.
Save it, or send it to whoever is bracing for the next let-down.
What would you ask if you were not being polite? Ask that one first.
#tiredofpromises #noselling
You tried one thing. You tried the next thing. You're still half-expecting to be let down again.
After enough tries, you stop hoping on purpose. It's a protection thing.
If you're bracing for the let-down before you've asked a single question, that isn't pessimism. That's experience doing its job.
It's 11pm, active grandparents, and you're reading reviews again, half-hoping and half-expecting another disappointment.
Anybody who sounds hopeful about anything had a stretch they don't post about. Mine ran 25 years with a bad back from an injury at work.
Nobody warns you that the reading becomes its own job. The reviews, the comments, the one fella in the group who swears by something.
There's no morning where the search ends on its own. You don't wake up done.
I'll be straight, because I'm no good at the other thing. Was I embarrassed about how long I'd been at it? Every time somebody asked.
I wouldn't hand those years back now, because they made me slow with people, hard to sell to, and useless at pretending I know what somebody else's week feels like.
If you're back on the reviews tonight, that isn't weakness. That's you doing your homework in the dark with a phone.
And I promise you, nobody worth listening to needs you to arrive convinced. NOBODY.
So take another night with it if you want one.
You're not desperate. You're thorough π
Sleep at some point though π
The reading becomes its own job. Nobody warns you about that part.
This is for whoever is on the reviews again tonight, half-hoping and half-braced.
Mine ran 25 years, with a bad back from an injury at work.
The 4 slides are here for the next time somebody wants your answer tonight.
Save it for 11pm. Send it on to whoever else is up.
Who else is still reading at this hour? Nobody worth listening to needs you to arrive convinced.
#latenightresearch #nobodysrushingyou
It's 11pm, active grandparents, and you're reading reviews again, half-hoping and half-expecting another disappointment.
Nobody warns you that the reading becomes its own job. The reviews, the comments, the one fella in the group who swears by something.
And I promise you, nobody worth listening to needs you to arrive convinced.
Why does every wellness product active grandparents look at need a science degree to understand?
STOP trying to follow the science before you'll let yourself consider anything. Steal these 3 systems instead.
1. Plain words system.
2. Normal day system.
Think about buying a washing machine, the guy walks you through the drum speeds and the sensor tech and you nod the whole way through and then you go home and ask your sister which one she has and you buy that one⦠why
Because it's rarely about how much of the science you followed and more so about whether one person you trust could say it out loud in one breath.
3. What would I notice system.
The people you keep coming back to are easy to listen to because they'll tell you what a thing is in one sentence, then leave you alone to decide.
#plainlanguage #everydaywellness
Plain words, or it doesn't count.
This is for anybody who has opened a wellness page, read half of it, and closed it none the wiser.
We got here the ordinary way. Sitting across from people who wanted a straight answer and got a lecture instead.
The carousel has the 3 systems in it, and the one breath test they all come down to.
Save it if it helps. Send it to whoever keeps forwarding you links.
What are you weighing up right now? If nobody can say it in one breath, ask somebody else.
#plainlanguage #everydaywellness
Why does every wellness product active grandparents look at need a science degree to understand?
Think about buying a washing machine, the guy walks you through the drum speeds and the sensor tech and you nod the whole way through and then you go home and ask your sister which one she has and you buy that one.
The people you keep coming back to are easy to listen to because they'll tell you what a thing is in one sentence, then leave you alone to decide.
Did you know active grandparents have never once been told in plain language what any of it actually does?
QUIT waiting for somebody to finally explain it to you. Steal these 3 systems and go get the answer yourself.
1. Kitchen table system.
2. No homework system.
Picture 2 people giving you directions to the same house, one says turn at the church with the red door and go 3 mailboxes past it, the other one reads you a county road number and a string of coordinates and you drive past the turn twice⦠which
Because it's rarely about how much somebody knows and more so about whether they can hand any of it to you in a form you can carry out of the room.
3. Say it back system.
Anybody worth listening to about your own body can say what a thing does in a sentence you could repeat to your sister, then they stop talking.
#askbetterquestions #plainenglish
You have been handed a lot of words and not one sentence you could repeat.
This is for the person who has read the page twice and would still get it wrong describing it to their sister.
We learned this on the other side of a kitchen table, watching people nod at things nobody had made plain.
All 3 systems are in the carousel, and the last one ends with somebody handing you something you can carry out of the room.
Save it for the next time somebody talks at you for ten minutes.
What got explained badly to you this week? Ask for it again in one sentence.
#askbetterquestions #plainenglish
Did you know active grandparents have never once been told in plain language what any of it actually does?
Picture 2 people giving you directions to the same house, one says turn at the church with the red door and go 3 mailboxes past it, the other one reads you a county road number and a string of coordinates and you drive past the turn twice.
It's rarely about how much somebody knows and more so about whether they can hand any of it to you in a form you can carry out of the room.
Why do active grandparents get asked for a card before anybody asks how they're actually doing?
I keep hearing the same "rules" for how you're supposed to shop your way to feeling better. Card, then conversation. The people worth your time run it the other way round.
(Take a breath. That order isn't your fault.)
Look, before you decide anything, put these 3 to them:
β’ ask them what they want to know about you first (how long it's been, what you already tried, what a good day looks like now)
β’ tell them the part you'd normally keep to yourself, that you've been let down before (then watch what they do with it)
β’ get them on record about what happens if this does nothing for you (an honest answer beats a CONFIDENT one)
That's what actually works and it tells a conversation from a checkout right now π¬
Follow along for the questions nobody hands you before the price π
And if you'd rather put those 3 to us, message us. We won't lead with a priceβ¦
The card comes first and the question about you comes later, if it comes at all.
We have sat through enough of these to know the order never changes on its own.
Run it backwards. Conversation first, and the card after that, if there is anything worth talking about.
The 3 questions in the carousel are the ones we would want asked of us.
Save it. Send it to whoever is about to hand over a card this week.
Who asked you a question last time? Most people get a price instead.
#askfirst #nopressure
Why do active grandparents get asked for a card before anybody asks how they're actually doing?
I keep hearing the same "rules" for how you're supposed to shop your way to feeling better. Card, then conversation. The people worth your time run it the other way round.
Take a breath. That order isn't your fault.
If you're active grandparents waiting to be believed before you're sold to, you've been waiting a long while.
The "rules" say you get sold to first and believed later. Later, if there's time. The ones who stopped playing along asked to be believed first.
(I've been on your side of this. 25 years of it, and I mean that.)
Nothing to decide today. Read the person in front of you:
β’ count how many questions you get asked before a price shows up (2 or 3 is a conversation, zero is a script)
β’ say out loud that you're not ready (a person says fine, a pitch says wait)
β’ watch for the part where today is the LAST day it's available (nobody honest needs your answer this afternoon)
That's what actually works and it shows you who's listening right now π
Follow along for what being believed sounds like π€
Message us if you want to run those 3 on us. We'll answer, and we won't ask for a card.
Nobody hands you belief first. You have to ask for it, and most people never do.
I've been on your side of this. 25 years of it, and I mean that.
So flip the order. Ask to be believed first, and let the price wait until somebody has heard the whole thing.
All 3 are in the carousel, and none of them need you to decide anything.
Keep it for the next time somebody needs your answer this afternoon. Send it on too.
When did somebody last ask you something before the price came up? Most conversations skip that part.
#believedfirst #nocountdown
If you're active grandparents waiting to be believed before you're sold to, you've been waiting a long while.
The "rules" say you get sold to first and believed later. Later, if there's time. The ones who stopped playing along asked to be believed first.
I've been on your side of this. 25 years of it, and I mean that.