You Still Have Time

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You Still Have Time

Episode 11 - How Old Is Too Old

November 17, 2025 • Hope Harley Todman & Harold Todman • Season 1 • Episode 11

0:00 | 17:42

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In this episode of "You Still Have Time," we discuss the question of how old is too old, inspired by Nancy Pelosi's decision not to run for re-election at age 85. We highlight that 112 members of Congress are over 70, with 11 between 80 and 90, and one at 91. We emphasize the importance of self-awareness and honesty about one's abilities, especially as we age.

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SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hello and welcome to You Still Have Time. We're your host, I'm Hope. And I'm Harold. And we welcome you to this episode that we're calling How Old Is Too Old? We'd also like to welcome all of our new listeners. If this is your first time listening to us, welcome. We hope that you'll enjoy what you hear and come back again. And of course, for those of you who are regular listeners, all three of you, I think we're up to three now.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Yes, we've we've gained another listener.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Uh thank you for continuing to support us. As I said, uh this episode we're calling How Old Is Too Old. And Harold, you want to tell folks why we came across this?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Yes, we happened to watching television a week or two ago, and we saw that Nancy Pelosi had decided not to run again for re-election. And um, of course, we wanted to just check out her age. Nancy Pelosi is 85.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Right. And by the time she would run for re-election, she'd be 86, almost 87.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

And I don't know if Nancy is a listener to You Still Have Time. And we don't want to suggest that just because she's 85, she should arbitrarily decide not to run, but we just started to think about the age, uh, 85, or you know, oh as we get older, when do you say, maybe I need to step down?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

He says step down, I say sit down. No one to sit down.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Sit no one, no one to sit down.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

In any case, this is not a criticism of Nancy Pelosi. Not at all. Certainly not. She's a remarkable woman and has had a remarkable career and impact on this country. This is not a partisan message in any way, and it's certainly not just about uh those in Congress. Right. But Harold did do some research on the age groups. Oh, and and let me also say that yes, this is still, you still have time, and we still believe that regardless of your age, you can have a full um life that that you continue to do the things that you love. We're just saying that you have to be honest with yourself at some point and know when it is time to sit down.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

So I took a quick look at the numbers of the members in Congress. There are 112 members of Congress over the age of 70. There are 11 between the ages of 80 and 90, and there's one member of Congress who is 90, I think he's 91 years old. And we began to think about it. Now, we again Hope and I are reflecting on our own abilities and capabilities, and we know that we're not the same as we were 40 years ago or 30 years ago, or 20 years ago even.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

So I'm just imagining this 91-year-old making decisions that impact the rest of Americans in 2025, with all of the issues that some of the things we've talked about here about older people and the use of technology, for example. Does a 91-year-old or an 81-year-old for that matter un really understand AI? Now, I'm not saying I, again, there are exceptions to every rule.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

Right.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

We just don't believe that there are 112 exceptions that are current currently serving in Congress. And it and it goes beyond certainly, you know, people running for office.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

We we we looked at jobs that require retirement, that have mandatory retirement ages. There are seven jobs, did I say seven, one, two, three, four, five? Yeah, seven jobs that have mandatory require retirement ages. Airline pilot, air traffic controller, diplomats. I don't know why you would seem to me you could be anyway. Uh National Park Law Enforcement Rangers, they have a mandatory retirement age of 57. FBI agents, firefighters, and those the numbers for firefighters are different depending upon your jurisdiction, and judges. So we thought that, well, if these jobs have mandatory retirement ages, maybe, maybe Congress should have a mandatory retirement age.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, and again, this is not, you know, some political ploy here. It's it's and it's certainly not partisan in any way because there are older people serving in all on from all parties. But I think that what we really started thinking about is how we look at ourselves as we age, and if we can be really honest with ourselves and say, even if we have the desire to do certain things that we might not be best suited to implement that in certainly in a professional way. And if you if you're doing something because you enjoy doing it and it's you're volunteering or it's a hobby, that's one thing. But if you are in a professional role with responsibilities that especially I'm sure all professionals have responsibilities that impact other people, then you really I think need to think about if if no mandatory testing is you know involved with your profession, you just need to be honest with yourselves and think about what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 6:26

Yeah, I think at the core of this conversation, we're gonna keep returning to the concepts of knowing when you as an individual can no longer perform whatever that task is as well as you need to be. For instance, driving. I think that most of us of a certain age realize that we don't see, and I don't, you know, even if you have the best of vision, you don't see quite as well as you used to. Have you made the adjustments? Do you limit night driving? Do you limit driving at the busier times of days? Those are the types of accommodations I think that we all have to make f for our aging. And if you're not making those accommodations, are you putting yourself at risk? Are you putting others at risk? Are you having more of these little fender benders than you ever have in your life? Is it always someone else's fault? Or could you be the reason why you know you're running into the walls or backing into your garage or backing into other things? I mean, again, we're just asking each one of us to be honest.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Well, they say with age comes wisdom, and and I think that wisdom is demonstrated when you recognize your limitations. Uh there are states that of course have license requirements for older people, and I'm not against that. We don't live in a state that does, but some require vision and and road tests for drivers over a certain age. They pre prohibit renewal by mail for drivers over a certain age, or they shorten the renewal cycle. So if you're in a state where you only have to renew your driver's license every three years, maybe they shorten it to every year so that they can get a look at you and see if you are still have you know full capability of driving safely.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

I think that uh to be m real, we'll get down to real specifics. And and I I'm gonna just talk about men for a second, because I know that for us guys, it's hard to deal with the fact that we can no longer do what we used to be able to do. I know some of us think that we're just as strong at 70 as we were at 20, and we go out there as soon as those few first few snowflakes fall, and we grab our shovel and we go out there and shovel or attempt to shovel the driveway. Well, we saw some numbers from CDC, and on average, a hundred people die each year from shoveling snow, and I'm sure pretty much all of those were men.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

I would say so. And and in doing the research on that, did you know that the age when you should start being concerned about shoveling snow spic specifically is a whole lot younger than any of us could imagine. Actually, the age is 45. Shoveling snow is so tough on your body and on your systems, both your cardiac systems, your pulmonary systems. There's so much involved in just shoveling snow that they actually recommend that starting at age 45 that you begin to, you know, ease down. So imagine a 70-year-old, you know, you know, six inches of snow fell and you're trying to dig the car out of the driveway, or you're trying to clear a path to, you know, out of the house to the street. Be careful. It might be better to give that job to the 13-year-old that lives down the block who's trying to make some extra cash.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Absolutely. Absolutely, absolutely. So those are the types of things that we want to just put out there that you know you can no longer do, whether it be shoveling snow or being able to hear.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yes, because everything's not associated with death necessarily. Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

But but just even simple things that when when I mean we all know people, well, I shouldn't say we all know, but many of us know people who probably need some help in here in the hearing department. I know for myself personally, it took me a while for hope to say, Well, why is this television so loud? And I'm like, well, you know, it's because I just didn't want to admit to myself that my hearing was fading.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

And not only hearing, I mean glasses. A lot of folks, you know, I early on in your 40s, usually the eyesight starts to change, and all of a sudden everything, every the print of everything looks so tiny.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Have you ever heard someone say, Oh, I only need glasses to see? Like, what are you talking about? You only need glasses to see. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

And and another big one, vanity comes into that. So certainly, as Harold said, hearing aids, people who don't want to wear hearing aids because, you know, oh, people will see, and that will mean that they're old. I'm I'm making quotation marks here. They're old because they have these hearing aids on. I mean, hearing aids now are so tiny that someone would have to be looking for them. And certainly for women, if if you have hair, if you don't have your hair cut very short, you can you can camouflage hearing aids very easily. But canes, canes is a big one. And I will admit that I think that if and when or when and if I get to the point where my walking is unsteady, that I'm gonna feel a certain way about using a cane. Because to me, using a cane means, ooh, you're elderly, because that's what the image that I have in my head of being elderly. But I hope I'm not foolish enough to risk falling or and hurting myself even more by not using a cane.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

We call this podcast You Still Have Time. And really, what we when we set out to create this podcast, we wanted to stress to our community that just because we reached a certain age, you don't have to stop doing what you love to do. However, you need to think about it and do it with I guess with the wisdom that you've learned. You can't run if you if you're a runner, more than likely you're not gonna be running at the same pace you did when you're in your twenties. If you're a cyclist, you're not gonna be riding at the same pace. Uh whatever you did when you were in your if you're a weightlifter, you're not gonna be lifting the same amounts of weights at the same and with the same frequency. But it doesn't mean you have to stop. It's just that you have to use the the wisdom that you've acquired over these years to make sense of it. Don't spend these years trying to relive your 20 or 30-year-old self.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Just trying to hold on to your youth.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Youth is not all it's cracked up to be, and you know it because you've been through it.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

It wasn't an easy thing to be. Young is not an easy thing to be.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Yeah, and and and then don't fight this. I mean, you know, if you if you need glasses, get glasses. If you need a cane, walk with a cane. If you need hearing aid, get a hearing aid. I mean, let's let's you know be honest with yourself. Be honest with yourself. And I guess that's really what we're saying. Be honest with yourself. I know sometimes it's difficult, but I think that if you do that, you will definitely enjoy these these years. You'll get the most out of this part of your life.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

And we think that each of us would really prefer to make our own decisions about when to st step down, uh, as opposed to being forced to. I I'm sure no one wants the someone else to come in and say, you must stop. Make that decision. That's part of being independent in your older years, knowing and having the wisdom to make that decision for yourself.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

I think that says it pretty much says it all.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Well, thank you for listening. As always, we're looking for your comments.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Your feedback.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Yes, your feedback. If you have any questions, if you have any suggestions about future episodes, please let us know what they are. Uh, of course, we want you to follow us wherever you're listening to this podcast, and you can reach out to us in various ways.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

You can send us an email at you still have time podcast at gmail.com. You can reach us wherever you can leave us a text message wherever we wherever you listen to us.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

You can leave a voicemail message right where you're listening, wherever you are listening to this podcast, right at the bottom, there's a link that says speak pipe. I think you can leave a 90-second voicemail message.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

That is correct.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

And there's also space for you to leave a comment.

SPEAKER_02 16:10

That's right. So we have plenty of options and uh places where you can reach out to us. Please, we really need the feedback. We have trouble coming up with new topics, and we want your involvement. I mean, we really set up this podcast for us, for our community. Please comment, send us an email, talk to us.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Yes, we we need you.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

So I think with that.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Should we give them a preview?

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 16:44

Yes, we have exciting news. Well, I don't know how exciting it is, but it's a couple of episodes ago, we had our first guests. Well, for our next episode, we're going to have sort of a round table. Yeah, even though we don't have a round table, but we don't have a round table, but it's going to be a conversation with a group of seniors. That's all we're gonna say. We won't even tell you what we're gonna be talking about, that's it. I don't know. We have a we don't have a teaser out there yet, so no, you don't know.