What’s This About?
Hi! I’m Don Akchin. I’m a recovering journalist and since March 2021 I have been the writer and podcaster of The EndGame.
I took a long road to get here. I retired at age 66, with the goal of achieving my cherished childhood dream of writing fiction. In my adult years I had postponed the dream while earning my bread as a news reporter, editor, marketing communications writer, and consultant. Always I wrote for other people. Now, I thought, I had the freedom to become an author and write just for me.
Only it didn’t work out that way.
I did write two novels over four years. (Neither found an agent or a publisher.) Despite achieving my dream, I found myself dissatisfied with my life in retirement.
For one thing, I felt guilty. My wife was still working, and working hard, while I sat in my office having the time of my life. For another, writing books wasn’t as fulfilling as I had dreamed it would be. There was no feedback, no encouragement. No sense of being useful, or feeling I was doing something the world cared about.
Don’t you just hate when you know exactly what you want, and it turns out you’re wrong?
Lucky for me, I made a course correction that made a huge difference. I decided to write about what I was learning about retirement and getting older, and to write it for others who were experiencing or about to experience the same things. That became The EndGame.
I write about aging and retirement from a positive perspective. I see these years as a gift, a time to experiment in ways we never could when we were “adulting.” I see it as an opportunity to discover sides of ourselves that we have neglected, to find new ways to connect with people, to find new reasons to be alive.
I am no expert. I’m just discovering these things for myself, and sharing with you what I am experiencing and the wisdom I have collected from others. I invite you to join me on my voyage of discovery by becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Free Subscription
As a free subscriber, you will receive
a weekly essay in your email on a topic relevant to older adults. The topics are wide ranging, heavy on the psychological and spiritual, light on the medical and financial.
a weekly podcast in your email, featuring an interview with someone with relevant expertise to share or a good story to share.
As a paid subscriber ($50/annually or $5/monthly), you will receive all of the above, PLUS
A biweekly bulletin of news and views relevant to our age cohort.
The absolute joy of knowing that you are supporting journalism appropriate to you and free of advertiser influence, government censorship, or toxic waste.
Do yourself and freedom of the press a favor. Subscribe today. Just click the button below.
