Midlifing
Two friends Lee and Simon have serious conversations about silly things, and silly conversations about serious things. Together they dig into the pleasures, absurdities and imperfections of being human.
Midlifing
286: Trapped in a Hug
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Simon and Lee open with friendship: Simon has spent the day building a clay oven in Sardinia with Igor and Moreno and finds himself moved by the sheer fact of having people like that in his life. From there the conversation turns to a harder question - whether either of them can actually ask for help when it really counts - and two stories emerge: Lee's account of a yoga acquaintance who showed up with a kindness he couldn't receive, and Simon's retelling of a moment when Lil found herself trapped in a long hug from a friend's partner that felt vampiric rather than warm. The episode closes on a mix-up between a work anniversary and thirty years of marriage, and the one piece of advice Lee has yet to take himself.
Mentioned
- Walt Whitman – 19th-century American poet; referenced as "Uncle Walt" alongside his phrase "we contain multitudes," offered as a gentle counterweight to a moment of harsh self-assessment
- LinkedIn – professional networking platform; the source of an automated work anniversary notification that sets off the episode's closing exchange
Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net.
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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)